The Only Proof
by HPfanonezillion
Summary: Sydney and Adrian are trying to cope with their son Josh deciding to train at Court to be a Guardian. They pray that their daughter Marti won't make the same choice. They try to go on with normal life without their son constantly around. But things become not so normal when Sydney and Adrian discover that their life is about to change in a way they never planned.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: So my friend Dejah suggested the events that will soon play out in this story. I don't know how long it will be, but I hop you enjoy it. And if you like this and haven't yet, go check out my other Sydrian works in this same universe. Please let me know what you think._

_The title comes from the Paramore song Proof. It's a great song and you should go check it out._

_Happy reading!_

The Only Proof

A Sydrian Fanfiction

By Danielle Cheri

Chapter One

"Don't do anything stupid, Joshua." I said softly to my son. "Listen to Eddie and Jill. Be careful in your training."

"I'm going to get hurt, Mom. It's pretty much a given." He said matter-of-factly.

"Just be careful, baby. Don't get hurt too badly." I pulled his head to my shoulder. "I love you."

"I'll be fine. I know what I'm doing." He held me tighter anyway. He whispered, "I really will miss you, Mom."

I kissed his cheek and stepped back, wiping the tears from my face. "We'll see you at Christmas. Answer my calls."

"Yes, ma'am." He kissed my cheek and hugged me once more.

Adrian stepped forward and framed our son's face with his hands. They were almost the same height now. Josh stood just a couple inches shorter. He'd catch up quickly.

Adrian spoke so softly, I could barely hear, but I caught, "You remember what I said about girls."

"I will, Dad." Josh assured his father.

Adrian hugged him tight. He stepped back.

Marti threw her arms around Josh's waist. "I'll miss you."

He lifted her up and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't mess up my room, kid. And listen to Mom and Dad. They know what they're doing." He hugged her and then put her down. He looked at each of us one more time. "I guess you need to get going."

Adrian nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder. "See you at Christmas."

He nodded. I could see his eyes glistened. He turned back and hurried into the apartment building before his tears could fall.

Adrian squeezed my hand and bent to gather our bags.

"I'm ready when you are." Eddie said from a few feet away.

"We're ready." I said, taking Adrian's free hand. Marti slipped her hand into my other one. She hadn't done that in a long time. I squeezed it. "Let's go."

Marti stuck to my side through the airport. Part of me worried she would follow her brother in a few years. She was only nine, but already she was better than Josh in a lot of the training aspects.

Adrian and I had signed them both up for basic martial arts training when they were small. When we saw them, Eddie usually drilled them to see where they stood. He never pushed for either of them to take the final training to become Guardians like him, as we asked. But Josh had always idolized Eddie, Dimitri, and Rose. He even insisted on dressing up as Eddie one Halloween. I wished he hadn't, but Adrian reminded me that we'd agreed to always give them a choice. And this was his. I had to accept it.

Adrian kissed my cheek before he took the seat behind us on the plane. We could have very easily gotten access to Lissa's private jet, but we refused. There was no point in it, we decided. After we took off, Marti curled into the seat against me and fell asleep. I rested my head on top of hers and dozed for a while myself.

Marti went straight to Josh's room as soon as we got home.

I started to follow, but Adrian caught my hand. "Give her some time."

I turned. "I miss him so much."

He pulled me into his arms. "I do too."

I sniffed and pressed my face into his shoulder. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

He rubbed my back. "I know he will be. At least until he graduates. And he may not even be assigned outside Court."

I looked up. "He _wants_ to see action, Adrian. He is determined that what happened to Ivanna and Nikolai won't happen to anyone else."

"Eddie and Rose are the best. You know that as well as I do." He cupped my cheeks. "He's smart and he's talented and he's strong. He'll be okay. And so will we." He kissed me softly. "Go ahead and get to bed. I'll see to Marti."

"Are you going to stay up and paint?"

"Not tonight." He smiled uncertainly. "I need you, Sydney. Because as much as I'm saying all these things, as much as I want to believe them, I'm having trouble with it."

I gently scratched his back. "Try not to be too long, then." I gave him a smirk. "Meet me in the bathtub."

"I like the sound of that." He kissed me again and then walked up the stairs.

I made sure everything was locked up. I poured food into the cat's bowl. Yeats had followed us inside and sat patiently beside it until I finished giving him his food. I was surprised he was still around. He could be a grumpy old man on the worst days, but he was still a loyal companion.

I stepped into the master bathroom to see Adrian already filling the bathtub. "Marti was asleep on Josh's bed. I decided to leave her."

I nodded. "What are we going to do if she decides to go too?"

"We'll figure it out." He lifted my shirt over my head and dropped a kiss to my shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me.

I slipped my hands up his back, feeling the hard planes and the muscles as they moved under his skin. He moved his hands all over me. I was amazed sometimes what his touch still did to me. I didn't think I'd still be so attracted to him, so turned on by a touch, after so long together. But I was.

I stepped away and finished undressing. I slid into the tub and dunked my head under the water. I came back up as my husband stepped into the water. He leaned over me and kissed me. I switched places with him, straddling him as we continued to kiss and caress.

I rested my head against his. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He wrapped his hands around my waist. "Are you up for it tonight?" he asked softly.

I nodded and kissed him. I raised myself up slightly and helped guide him in. We moved slowly together. We didn't always, especially after the kids got older and tended to try to get into our room whenever they felt like it. Even with the locks. We mostly went quickly, finished quickly, so we weren't interrupted.

I lifted my mouth from his and looked down into his eyes.

"You're still so amazing, baby." He murmured.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He sighed. He slid his hand up my stomach and cupped my breast. He leaned forward and ran his tongue over my nipple.

I groaned and then let out a little gasp when he clamped his mouth over it and started sucking. Just a few seconds of that with him moving in and out of me nearly drove me insane. I sighed, "Adrian?"

"Hm?" He didn't remove his mouth so the hum when through me.

"I'm so close."

After another moment he stopped the treatment of my breast. He trailed his tongue up my chest and brought his lips back to mine. He bucked harder beneath me. The water in the tub started sloshing all over the floor.

"You're making a mess." I panted.

He managed a chuckle. "I'll clean it up."

I couldn't say anything else. I was at the brink. I let out a soft whine as my body started to shake. Adrian kissed me through it and I could feel him as he met his climax in the last moments of mine.

And then we were still. The water still moved a little around us. I kissed him and rested my head on his shoulder. I closed my eyes and listened to his breathing as it grew steadier. I felt his heart slow to a normal rate.

"Time for bed, I think." He said softly, stroking my back.

"You have to mop up the water."

He let out a snort of laughter. "Okay. But you go to bed. You haven't been sleeping well. You need your rest. You go back to work tomorrow."

I sighed, reluctant to leave the warmth of the water and the security of being wrapped up with him in that moment. I kissed his neck, then his jaw, and finally his lips. I slowly pushed myself off of him and out of the water. He watched me hungrily as I dried off and then wrapped the towel around me.

"I'll be right in." He pulled himself out of the tub when I finally made my way toward our bedroom.

Something was nagging at the back of my mind as I lay in bed and started to drift off to sleep, but I couldn't quite pinpoint it. It seemed like there was something I had forgotten.

Adrian kissed the back of my neck and wrapped his arms tightly around me. Whatever I had forgotten didn't seem like such an important thing right then. I'd figure it out in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note: I'm glad you guys like this. I don't yet know the length, but it won't be short. And there are still some things I'm not too sure about. It will all work out. It always does._

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Two

I heard the door close and poked my head around the studio door. Sydney took her coat off and turned to me. She smiled weakly.

"What are you doing home so early?" I walked toward her.

"I've got a horrible headache." She wrapped her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder.

"You were complaining about that last night. Same one?" I rubbed her temple.

"I don't know." She groaned. "I think I'm dying."

I laughed. "Let's not joke about that."

She sighed. "You know, I'd really like a bacon cheeseburger."

"Bacon cheeseburger? That's a little random."

"Yeah. I don't know. Just kind of been wanting one all day. When I haven't wanted to die from this headache."

"Have you eaten anything today?" I asked gently.

"Not since breakfast. I really haven't felt like it. But I still want that burger."

"I'll go get you one if you want." I chuckled. "You know, you haven't eaten a bacon cheeseburger since you were pregnant. Both times. Never before or after."

We both froze at that. She raised her head and looked at me. I could see some sort of calculation was happening in her head. She blinked and rested her head on my shoulder once more. "Oh, damn."

"What?" My heart pounded. "Are you pregnant?"

"I think so." She mumbled into my shirt.

"You _think_?"

"I ran out of pills and had to make an appointment to get more and I haven't been able to yet. I thought I had all the dates right. I obviously didn't."

I lifted her head off my shoulder. "Wait, run that by me again. You haven't been taking birth control? And you didn't tell me?"

"I mentioned it. But you weren't paying much attention that day, I guess. You said we'd be fine. I figured I'd calculate my cycle. But with Josh going to Court, it kind of got jumbled, I guess."

"God, Sydney, that's the reason condoms were invented. You could have told me when we made love."

"I know you don't like to use those."

I cupped her cheeks. "Sydney, we've been married twenty-one years. Condom free for most of those. I could deal with it for a while if I need to."

She put her hands over mine. "Are you mad at me?"

"No. Of course not." I rested my head against hers. "You know I always wanted more kids."

She sighed. "I do."

I stroked her cheeks with my thumbs. "And we don't even know for sure."

"I could try to get in to the doctor this afternoon to confirm it."

"If not?"

"Let me just see what I can do." She kissed me and then walked into the living room, punching a number into her phone.

I sat down beside her on the couch and started playing with her hair as she tried to make an appointment. _A baby._ I thought to myself. _Wow. After all this time…_

Sydney spoke, breaking me out of my thoughts. "They can fit me in. Want to drive me?"

"Sure." I stood and pulled her to her feet. "Syd, look…Whether you are or you aren't, I don't care. I'll be happy either way. And I want you to be too."

She put her hand against my cheek and smiled. "I love you, Adrian. I've never stopped and I don't plan on it anytime soon. Baby or no baby, you're still my husband."

I kissed her. "Just don't freak out, okay?"

She laughed. "I'll try."

I was in a constant state of giddiness for the rest of the afternoon. I tried to prepare myself for the possibility that she wasn't while exulting in the possibility that she was. She made me stay in the waiting room when she went in for the exam. I could tell this was worrying her. We'd been making so many plans for later life that were now on hold for another eight years after Marti left for college.

She came back out and curled into my side. "We have to wait for the test results."

"You want some coffee?"

She smiled. "I'd kill for some."

"I'll go find some, then. Be right back." I kissed her and smoothed her hair away from her face. "God, I love you."

"I love you." She said softly.

As she sipped her coffee a short time later and I looked over an old magazine, her name was called. She threw her cup away and grabbed my hand to follow her. "That was really bad coffee." She commented.

I laughed. "It was the best I could do, baby."

She smiled through her nerves.

We were ushered into an office where her doctor sat behind his desk. This was the same doctor who had delivered our other children and he'd been seeing Sydney for years.

He smiled. "Hello, Ivashkovs." He opened a file. "Sydney, I have your results and you _are_ pregnant."

She squeezed my hand. "Okay."

He chuckled. "You weren't trying for this, I know. And it can be a little frightening, but I know you'll make it through." He grew serious. "I think we should discuss the fact that you are a little older than the lasttwotimes and the risk of birth defects—"

"No." Sydney interrupted. "I don't want to think of the worst. I want to carry this baby with the belief that it will be healthy." She gave me a look that added, _Dhampir birth defects are so extremely rare anyway._

"How far along?" I asked.

He looked down at his chart. "About five weeks, according to all calculations." He looked up and smiled. "You should be welcoming your baby into the world in late May."

"May." I smiled, hardly able to contain myself. I wanted that baby in my arms now! I squeezed my wife's hand. "Anything else?"

"Nothing. Sydney, have reception schedule for an appointment in a month. Next time we'll see your little one for the first time and hear a heartbeat."

"Thank you, Dr. Halverson." Sydney stood and held out her hand.

"Yes, than you." I shook his hand enthusiastically.

In the car, Sydney grabbed my hand and stared out the window as I drove us home. I kissed her knuckles.

"You're not happy about this." I said softly.

"I'm not _not_ happy." She kept her eyes focused on the world passing by the window.

"But?"

She turned and looked at me. She asked softly, "Is Josh going to think we're trying to replace him? Is Marti going to think we don't love her as much?"

"Baby, they both got your intelligence. They'll know better." I attempted reassurance. It didn't work.

She covered her eyes and a sob escaped her. "I don't know if I'm ready for this."

"I don't either." I admitted. I pulled into a parking lot and turned off the car. We sat in silence for a moment. I broke it saying, "But I'm so happy."

"Please don't. I'm still trying to process it." She turned her head and squeezed my hand. She gave me a small smile. "We'll figure it out. We'll make it. And I know I'll love this baby as much as our other two. But until we tell them…I don't know."

I framed her face in my hands. "They'll probably freak out. Especially Josh. But I know in the end they'll be excited about it."

"I'm excited about it. But I'm also scared to death. I mean, I know that dhampirs are strong and that this one will come out kicking just like the other two, but what about me? I'm no spring chicken."

"You eat healthy. You're active. You work hard. You will be fine. You're not old."

"Forty-three."

"Isn't old. Even for a human. Not in this day and age." I kissed her and looked at the dashboard clock. "Let's get home. We have an hour until Marti gets in from school."

We rode along in silence. Sydney still held tightly to my hand.

When we stepped into the house, she stopped. She turned to me. "Look, I really am happy about this. It's just a lot to take in. I mean, we weren't planning on it."

"No, but thankfully we know you're only a little over a month along. We have eight more to prepare. We can do this. We've done it before."

She smiled and cupped my cheeks. "Come up to bed with me."

I grabbed her hips and pressed mine against them. "To sleep?"

"I've heard one way to cure a headache is to make love."

"Then let me try to cure that headache." I covered her mouth with mine. I stepped away after a moment and took her hand to lead her up the stairs. I closed and locked the door behind us.

I loved seeing my wife in the nude. She may have thought she was starting to sag in places, but I didn't see it. I begged her all the time to let me paint her. She said the thought of doing now what she'd done twenty years ago made her uncomfortable. Not with me, she swore, but in her own skin. No matter how often I told her she was perfect in my eyes, the answer was always the same.

I slid my hands over her bare flesh. I knew most of my friends who had been married even less than me never savored it as much as I did. They just did it and got it over with. But I really enjoyed making love with Sydney. She was a firecracker when she wanted to be. She was a long fuse when she wanted to be, too. Sometimes it was hard to know until I had her in bed which version of my wife I'd get. That's what made it even more exciting.

"We have less than an hour." She pushed me down on the bed and straddled my lap.

"Then I guess we better get going." I rolled her underneath me and kissed her, sliding my hand down her chest. "A baby, Sydney." I splayed my fingers over her stomach.

She smiled, uncertainty tingeing her eyes. She wrapped her legs around my waist as she captured my mouth. She guided me in and we started moving together. She set the pace and I matched stroke-for-stroke.

I wanted her to cry out and beg me never to stop, but that wasn't her style. It never really had been. She still encouraged me with the glorious sounds that escaped her.

I whispered her name and told her how much I loved her. I gritted my teeth and held off as long as possible. I never wanted to stop, even though I knew that it would. But then I felt her start to contract around me and I let myself go right along with her, ending at almost the same moment.

She smiled, this time a genuine, happy smile. She kissed me and pulled my head down onto her shoulder. I pulled the blanket over us.

After I caught my breath, I said, "That never gets old."

She combed her fingers through my hair. "No, it doesn't."

We lay in silence for a long time. Sydney continued to comb her fingers through my hair. I felt myself drift off to sleep. Her hand slowed and eventually stopped.

The front door slammed shut, jarring us both. "Dad? Mom? I'm home." Marti called.

"Damn. Why did we decide to have kids?" I asked, rolling away and stretching.

My wife gave me a sideways grin. "If I'd had it my way…"

"We'd never have Josh and Marti." I splayed my hand out on her stomach. "Or this one." I leaned over and kissed her before I started pulling on my clothes. "Still want that bacon cheeseburger?"

She thought about it a moment and then nodded, "Yeah, I do."

"Okay. You rest. Relax. I'll go to the store and get the stuff. See if Marti wants to join me." I kissed her again and rested my forehead against hers. "I love you."

"You too, sweetheart." She looked at me very seriously and asked, "When do we tell them?"

I sat down on the bed. "We'll tell Marti tonight. We can call Josh first thing in the morning. I don't want to mess with his whole day."

"But don't you think they deserve to know at the same time?"

I cupped her cheeks. "Okay. I'll text him to call before school." I kissed her again. "Anything else you want?"

She smiled. "Good coffee."

I laughed. "I can make that happen."


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note: I am really looking forward to how this story is going to play out. And I've never been pregnant, so if ever in the course of this something seems off from anyone's personal experience, I would not mind at all anyone making a suggestion to fix it._

_Thank you for reading. Thank you for reviewing and following and favoriting._

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Three

Adrian walked through the door talking on the phone, his arms loaded down with groceries. "Well, I'm glad everything's going well there, Josh. Just maybe stop the flirting." I couldn't hear our son's side of the conversation, but my husband laughed and responded. "Just keep it to yourself, okay? At least until you get into a grove. You're new. The rest of these people grew up together. Those girls mostly want you because of that. And because you're as devastatingly handsome as your father."

Marti walked in a moment later with the last of the groceries and rolled her eyes. "Could they be anymore full of themselves?"

"Your dad used to be a lot worse." I said as we started putting everything away.

"We'll finish that in a minute." Adrian said. "Marti, let's have a seat." He put his phone on speaker and sat it in the middle of the kitchen table. "Can you hear, Josh?"

I sat down beside him.

"Yeah. So what's up?" Josh asked.

"Your mom and I have something we need to tell you."

"Are you getting a divorce?" Marti asked. "My friend Chelsea's parents went through a divorce and she said it was brutal."

I laughed, "No, we're not getting a divorce. It's actually something good." I slipped my hand into Adrian's. "Well, _we_ think it's good and we hope the two of you think so too."

"Mom, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Josh asked.

"Maybe. We're going to have a baby."

There was silence for a few heartbeats.

Josh broke it, "Shit."

"Language." Adrian warned.

"Crap." He amended. "Wow. But you guys are old."

"Gee, thanks." I said, a grin spreading across my face.

"Seriously, Dad, after all that talk to me about wrapping it up and being smart and you go and knock Mom up. Way to go."

Marti giggled.

Adrian chuckled. "The difference is we're married and financially stable. And adults." He nudged our daughter's arm. "And what are you giggling at. You shouldn't know about those things."

"Mom gave me the sex talk already, Dad." She explained seriously.

Adrian looked at me, "Looks like the apple didn't fall far from the tree."

"Either one." I winked. "So you guys are okay with this?"

"Of course." Josh assured us. "Well, as okay as I can be. It's actually kind of a relative term, isn't it? I'm _okay_ with the fact that you're having a baby. I'm not entirely okay with the fact that you're having the baby the second I take off to start training. Are you preparing for the worst?"

I could hear the teasing tone in his voice, but I still worried over his words. "I never want to think about the worst when it comes to you, Joshua. Ever. You're my son. I always hoped that you would change your mind. But you've wanted this since you were old enough to realize what Eddie and Dimitri and Rose do. And I'm learning to live with it. And I swear to you, to both of you, that no one can ever replace you."

Marti smiled and nodded. "We know, Mom."

"Yeah." Josh agreed. "And there's no replacing Joshua Tyler Ivashkov. I'm the best there is all around. And by the end of my training I'll be able to kick Dimitri's ass."

"Language!" Adrian and I said together with a laugh.

"Sorry." He said. He didn't sound it. "I have to get going. Eddie's giving me his 'dad' look and tapping his toes."

I laughed and said, "I love you, Joshie."

"I love you, too, Mom. And I'd love you even more if you'd stop calling me Joshie."

"Whatever you say, baby."

"Have a good day, Josh." Marti said into the phone.

"Thanks, Marti. You too."

"Take care, Josh." Adrian said. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Dad."

Adrian pressed the End button and then kissed my knuckles. He walked toward the counter and started putting supper together.

"Do you have homework?" I asked our daughter.

She nodded. "Math." She made a face. "But it's not too hard. Math is my best subject, even if I hate it."

"I understand. Better go do it. If you want any help…"

"Thanks." She sighed and lifted herself out of the chair. She walked over to her father and leaned her head on his shoulder a moment. She was still very much Daddy's little girl.

He kissed her temple. "I love you. Go get your homework done."

She walked away glumly. I could see she was hoping he'd ask her to help, delaying the homework for a while.

"Want me to do anything?" I asked, wrapping my arms around him from behind.

"Kiss my neck."

I chuckled and did as he requested.

"Now, just go sit somewhere and look pretty while I cook for you." He turned and caught my lips in a fleeting kiss.

I sat at the table and Adrian started talking about an idea he had for a painting. I wasn't paying a lot of attention. I know it was horrible of me, but I couldn't concentrate completely on his words. Part of me was still trying to process the pregnancy.

"And so, I decided to add in these flying pink elephants for a bit of whimsy."

"Hm?" I looked up.

He watched me critically and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's still a lot to take in."

He walked over and kneeled in front of me. He rubbed my thighs. "You'll be fine."

I put my hands on top of his. "I sure hope so."

Adrian kissed me. "You will."

I rested my head against his. "I'm going to need you more this time."

"You had difficulties with Josh."

"But I was fourteen years younger. It was all mental."

"And this might be, too. You don't know yet."

I grinned. "I'm not sick this time. I was with Marti almost the whole time. And Josh for quite a while, too. I'm just really tired."

"Did you mention that today?"

"Yeah." I sat back. "If the test results showed anything abnormal, Dr. Halverson would have said something. I'll just keep up my vitamin regimen and see how I feel in a couple weeks. Maybe boost my iron." I sighed and smiled. "I guess I'll be fine."

"I _know_ you will be." He kissed me. "I've almost got this done."

"I'll get Marti."

As I walked toward her bedroom, I heard Marti exclaim, "I can't believe they did this. It's stupid…No, I told them I was fine with it…Josh said he was, so what could I say? And he's gone to school on the other side of the country, so he doesn't have to be here…Yeah, well, I know how it happens. And I'm kind of disgusted. I mean, seriously, they're _old_, Chelsea."

I knocked on the door. "Marti, baby, Daddy has supper done."

"I'll talk to you later, Chels."

I pushed her door open and leaned against the frame. "Do you need to talk?"

She shook her head.

"You know you can always come to me, Marti. I won't be mad or judge you. I'm your mom, it's part of the job description."

She looked down at her phone and then back up. "You're going to stop loving me."

"I won't." I sat down beside her on the bed and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "Where did my rational daughter go?"

"She went away when her brother left." She leaned her head on my shoulder. "I don't want to train. I never did. I'm better than Josh, but it doesn't matter. I want something more."

"And you can have it." I combed my fingers through her dark hair. "A new baby changes nothing for you."

"I won't have a chance to shine for you."

I smiled to myself. "What do you want to do, Marti? Who would you like to become? Your dad and I will support anything and everything."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

She took a deep breath. "I think I want to be a singer. Or a musician." She looked at me. "Or an architect. Sometimes I think I want to be a doctor. Sometimes a lawyer. Mostly I don't know, but I want to explore everything."

"And you don't think you can do that now?"

She shrugged. "You and Daddy won't have any energy. The baby will take up all your time. Josh already knows what he wants. And he'll talk all the time about what he's learned when we see him. And what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, let me tell you one thing, baby." I pulled her close once more. "We have about eight months before the baby comes without your brother, except when we go for Thanksgiving and he comes for Christmas. So you get to be the only child. Your daddy and I will be spoiling you rotten. And I promise that even after the baby is here and when your brother is around, I will always make time for you." I put my finger under her chin and met her eyes. "And if at any time you feel like you're being left behind, you come to me and tell me and I will fix it."

Marti blinked a few times and then pressed her eyes into my shoulder. She held me tightly. "I love you, Mommy."

"I love you, too, baby." I kissed her hair. "Let's go eat, I'm starved."

She grabbed my hand on the way down the stairs. "I think I'd like to be a pediatrician. But then I'd have to deal with patents who can't tell me where it hurts. But if I take care of older people, they will tell me _all_ the things hurt and I'll have to make up a diagnosis or tell them how completely wrong they are and they won't believe me."

I laughed and gently squeezed her hand. "There are many different specializations you could go into. You could be a cardiologist or an immunologist or a podiatrist. Even a proctologist."

She laughed. "I don't think I could be the last one. But cardiology could be fun."

We went about helping Adrian get food on the table.

"It would be sad to lose a patient, though. I don't know if I could be a doctor."

"Then architecture." I encouraged. "I would have been a great architect."

She rolled her eyes. "I know."

I pressed my forehead to hers a moment. "Don't be smart."

She chuckled. "What do you think, Daddy?"

"About what, baby?" He sat down at the table.

"What I should be when I grow up."

"You should never grow up, Marti." He said with a grin as he started eating. "I think you could become successful at anything. You're a Sage-Ivashkov. It's in your blood."

Our daughter grinned. "So if I joined the circus that would be fine?"

"Yes." I smiled.

"I'd like to have a clown in the family." Adrian commented.

"We already have plenty of those." Marti said with a smirk to rival her father.

I laughed and covered her hand with my own. "Why don't you become a stand-up comic?"

"I'm sure I could come up with a perfect routine. My dad's a vampire, my mom's a human, and my brother is training to kill. Hilarious." She deadpanned.

My husband smiled. "You'll figure it out. You still have plenty of time."

Marti spent the rest of the meal telling us about some drama one of her supposed friends was trying to stir up.

* * *

From some dusty corner, Adrian had uncovered the baby name book. It took its customary place on his night stand. I wasn't looking forward to his perusal of the book every night for the next eight months or at least until he convinced me to just pick a name, as had happened with Josh and Marti.

"So are you hoping one way or the other?" I asked as we settled into bed.

"We have one of each already. As long as you have a smooth pregnancy and the baby cooperates."

"And as a dhampir, we don't have to worry as much about defects or complications with the baby, just with me." I wrapped my arms protectively around myself.

He moved my arms away and pressed his mouth to my stomach. He moved up higher, kissing me every few inches. His lips brushed mine and he smiled down at me reassuringly. "You'll be fine, honey."

I combed my fingers through his hair. "Just keep telling me that, sweetheart."

He kissed me again and then rolled away.

We talked for a while, discussing what we still had in storage and what we needed to get.

I rolled over and draped my arm over his stomach. "Tell me the story of Hopper the Dragon." I requested around a yawn.

He chuckled and kissed me. He quietly launched into the version of our life together that he'd altered to be kid-friendly. I closed my eyes and saw the pictures in the book Adrian had put together to go along with the story until I fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's note: I don't know about you people, but Marti Ivashkov is a fun character to me. And I really like writing Sydney and Adrian as parents, especially to a teen and a preteen. And now a baby again!_

_Thank you for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing._

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Four

I watched Sydney as she slept. She was peaceful. She had been so worried for the last few weeks. Her age was still a concern, even though many discussions with her mother and a few articles I found online from late-in-life mothers assured her she would be fine.

I placed my hand on her stomach, spreading my fingers out.

She shifted and squinted her eyes open. "What are you doing?" She croaked.

"Just touching you. Go back to sleep." I kissed her temple.

She rolled into me, wrapping her arm around me and went back to sleep. I rubbed her back until I was finally able to fall to sleep myself.

I was awakened a while later by her digging her nails into my back and whimpering in her sleep.

I smoothed her hair away from her face and kissed her. "Sydney, baby, wake up. You're dreaming."

"Adrian?" She blinked her eyes open.

I kissed her again. "You okay?"

"I think so." She closed her eyes again and took a few deep breaths. "I don't even remember what I was dreaming about."

I combed my fingers through her hair. "It was just a dream, whatever it was."

She nodded and rolled onto her back. She smoothed her hand over her stomach. "It was something about the baby."

I placed my hand over hers. "It's okay, honey." I kissed her cheek. "It's okay."

She nodded. "It will be anyway."

"Yeah, it will."

"Marti wants to be a ballroom dancer now. Did she tell you?"

I smiled. "No, but she'd be pretty good. I love to watch her at karate and gymnastics. She's so graceful."

"She is. And strong. She can flip Josh easily."

"Are you sure you don't want to encourage her to train?" I teased.

"No! Definitely not!" She rolled into me again. "I want something different for her."

"I do, too." I smoothed my hand over her hair. "She'd be good, but it wasn't ever something she wanted like Josh does."

She kissed me. "You should get some sleep."

"I have been."

"Not much. I can tell." She rolled away. "Sleep, Adrian."

"Yes, baby." I pulled her close, spreading my hand on her stomach again.

Her hand came over mine and we slowly drifted off to sleep together.

* * *

Adrian snored softly on the other side of the bed. I smiled and took in his profile. He hadn't changed as drastically over the years, but I could see all the subtle differences, a maturing of his features. He smiled a little in his sleep and rolled toward me, reaching out. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that we still had a few minutes until the alarm went off. I slipped under his arm and tangled our legs together.

His eyes opened and he smiled more fully. "Morning."

"Morning. I didn't mean to wake you."

"I was just dreaming about you."

"I saw you smiling. I figured it was either me or your car."

He laughed and pressed a kiss to my forehead. His phone went off and he rolled over to pick it up. "It's Jill." He answered it and pressed it to his ear. "Hey, Jailbait."

I kissed him once more and got out of bed. I listened a little to his side of the conversation. It seemed she mostly wanted to just talk by the sound of my husband's responses. But then the tone changed.

"He did what?" Adrian sat up.

I paused in getting my things together and turned.

He sighed. "Sounds like something I would do."

I gave him a questioning look.

He held up a finger. "He never skipped class here. Who is he hanging out with?"

"Adrian, they can't tell him _not_ to hang out with people. It'll only make it worse." I said.

He nodded. "Well, Eddie and Rose can punish him in the gym. He deserves being pushed a little harder if he wants it. And he shouldn't be skipping out in his training for a girl. Especially a Moroi girl."

"Seriously?" I sighed and threw myself backward on the bed.

Adrian finished his conversation with his friend and then hung up. He put his phone on the nightstand again. He rubbed his face. "Did you get that, then?"

I sat up and rubbed his back. "He skipped class because of a Moroi girl?"

"Pretty much it. Eddie and Rose are making him stay after today to get the training he missed."

"Good plan." I got up and went back to getting ready for my day.

"How do you feel this morning?"

"I'm still not sick yet if that's what you're wondering. I actually feel pretty good." I absently rubbed my stomach. "Just to be safe, I'm going to put myself on desk duty. Do some of the smaller jobs if I need to. I think Mom will agree."

"I know _I_ do." He reached out and touched my arm. "I just wish you would have done it sooner."

I grabbed his hand and kissed his palm. "I've done this twice before. I know my limits. But I also know that this pregnancy is different from those. So before my doctor puts me on some sort of mandatory rest, I'm doing it voluntarily."

"Has there been any sort of pain or anything?"

I shook my head and let go of his hand. "I don't feel any different than I did before I was pregnant. If I hadn't had that weird craving, I would have thought my missed period and the headache were because of stress and worrying about Josh."

He grabbed my waist and pulled me back to him. He looked up. "But everything feels okay otherwise?"

I combed my fingers through his hair and then leaned down and kissed his nose. "I'm fine. I have my appointment tomorrow. You're coming, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

I stepped out of his hold and picked up my clothes. "You think Marti would want to come?"

"It might be fascinating for her. She might decide to become an ultrasound technician next."

I smiled. "Maybe. Or an obstetrician."

He laughed. "What do you want for breakfast?"

I thought for a moment and then said, "I would like an omelet."

"And I would like to make you one." He pressed a kiss to my neck and then left the room. I heard him knock on Marti's door. "Wake up, buttercup. It's another lovely day!"

"Don't call me that, Dad!" She yelled at him.

"Don't start it, you two." I called before I closed myself into the bathroom.

I walked into the kitchen several minutes later to find my daughter and husband together at the stove. Marti leaned close and watched as Adrian explained how to make the perfect omelet. He put a complete one on a plate and stepped back.

"Your turn, baby girl."

She shook her head. "You do it, Daddy. I'll ruin it."

"No, you won't. You may mess up a bit, but it's the first time you've ever made one. And it's not the end of the world." He looked over and saw me. "Hey, baby. Here." He handed me the plate he'd just made. "You want toast?"

I shook my head. "This'll be fine. Thank you."

He poured me a cup of coffee while Marti beat eggs and milk in a bowl. I ate and watched the cooking lesson. She flipped the eggs over and they broke apart. She let out a frustrated sound, but Adrian patted her back and told her it was fine.

"You should have seen my first omelet. It was awful. I burnt it. I couldn't even eat it. This looks delicious. And _I_ will eat it." He kissed her temple.

Confident in her father's encouragement, Marti tried a second time under his supervision and produced an omelet that looked just as good as Adrian's, if slightly more brown. They sat down with me and we ate in companionable silence for a while.

I sat back with my coffee. "You have anything big in school tomorrow afternoon, Marti? Any tests?"

She shook her head. "Why?"

"Would you like to come to the doctor with Daddy and me? We'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat."

Her eyes lit up. "That would be so cool! Yes, please."

Adrian chuckled and patted her hand. "Your mom said you want to try ballroom dancing."

She turned red. "You think it's silly."

"I don't. But if you want it, we need to figure out dance classes soon. Most kids start young."

"I've been training in karate and tae kwon do since I was five. I already have my black belt. I know what I'm doing discipline-wise."

"You're very frightening, Marti." He said. "But that doesn't mean you have the drive to dance. We'll find you some classes, but you really have to want it."

"I think I do."

"And we'll have to fit it around your other stuff. Right now, you don't do anything Wednesdays or Fridays. We have to find classes that meet that. I'll start looking today while you're at school." He looked at me. "Is that okay?"

I smiled. "Fine." I turned to our daughter. "But you have to weigh everything, baby. You already train hard in two martial arts fields and gymnastics. If you want to do this, we'll support you. But you have to remember that you also have to do homework and have time to just relax. If you have too much on your plate, Marti, you'll be more stressed than anything."

She moved her food around her plate. "Could I quit one of the others?"

"Which?" Adrian asked.

"I think we've pretty well established that I'm not going to be a guardian. So martial arts training isn't entirely necessary anymore. I'm only ten and I'm as good as Josh. So could I quit one of those? I'll keep doing the other because it's fun, but I don't _need_ both."

"Just think about it." I told her. I stood and kissed the top of her head. "I'm proud of everything you do, Marti. But you don't have to do _everything_." I put my plate and cup in the sink. "Are you riding with me or is Daddy taking you?"

"I'll come with you, Mom." She picked up her things and placed them in the sink. She kissed Adrian's cheek and then hurried from the room.

I kissed Adrian and then stepped away. He caught me around the waist and pulled me onto his lap. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Paint something today. Relax."

He nodded and kissed me again. "Have a good day."

"You too." I said against his lips before giving him another kiss.

"Mom, stop making out with Dad. You're going to be late for work."

I laughed and got up. "See you later."

He caught my hand and kissed my palm.

Marti and I talked about an upcoming gymnastics meet she had in a few weeks.

"I wish it was over already. I know everything. I'm just nervous." She said.

"You'll be fine. Just keep running through it all."

"Do you think Dad really wants me to be a dancer?"

"Dad wants what you want, Marti. Same as me. If you want to learn to dance, then we'll support you. If you change your mind, we'll still support you. It's part of being parents." I pulled into the drop-off lane at her school and turned to her. "But make sure it's what you want."

She nodded and leaned over the console to hug me. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, baby." I hugged her back. "Have a good day."

"You too."

I watched her as she met her friends in the front of the building. She was growing up way too fast. I was glad she wasn't considering following in her brother's footsteps. And I constantly prayed that it remained that way.


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's note: So this chapter has been written for a while, I just wasn't satisfied with the last bit and I knew it needed work, but I was away this weekend and not able to give it the attention it needed. But I'm happy with it now!_

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Five

Marti watched anxiously as I reclined on the table and pulled up my shirt. The ultrasound technician squirted gel onto my stomach and then applied the wand.

The screen came to life and after a moment, the woman turned the screen. "There is your baby."

"Where?" Marti asked, leaning close.

She pointed. "This little peanut-shaped thing here. That's it. And…" She fiddled with a few nobs.

Sound filled the room, a fast thumping. Adrian leaned over and kiss my temple. He rested his head against mine a moment. Marti looked over and smiled. I loved that we could show our daughter the real love we possessed for each other. Both of us had parents that loved each other, but they weren't always happy. They definitely weren't healthy. Adrian and I were happy pretty consistently and we showed our children how a healthy marriage worked.

"So that's the heartbeat?" She asked.

"That's it. Your baby brother or sister in there has a very healthy heartbeat." She made clicked around on the screen. I knew she was taking measurements.

Marti concentrated on the sound a moment and then asked, "Why is it so fast?"

I answered, "The heart is smaller. So it beats much faster. Like a mouse compared to ours. As we grow, our heart slows a little. Yours beats faster than mine."

Marti smiled. "That's so cool." She looked back at the screen. "When can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?"

"We still have a few months for that." The technician replied. "And your mom and dad might not want to know when the time comes."

"I think we will." Adrian said.

"So we can more easily argue over names." I teased.

The technician printed out a few pictures and handed them over. "Congratulations." She said with a smile. She made a few notes on a chart and then said, "I'll bring these results to Dr. Halvorson."

"What do you think, Marti?" I sat up as she left the room and tugged my shirt back in place.

"I want to do that." She said excitedly, pointing to the screen. "That was awesome!"

"What did I tell you?" Adrian teased.

I chuckled.

Our daughter gave us a long-suffering look and rolled her eyes. "One of these days I'll figure it out. But I'm only ten. I don't need to have my life planned out for me."

I patted her arm. "I'm glad you have that option."

Dr. Halvorson walked in and smiled at us all. "Hello, Ivashkovs. Including young Marti. I remember you. The last time I saw you, you screamed at me."

"I couldn't really help it, Dr. Halvorson. I was a baby and lacked the capacity to speak my discomfort."

Adrian snorted.

He looked hard at her. "How old are you again?"

"Ten years, three months, and two days." She promptly said.

I patted her arm. She sometimes spoke a little differently with people she didn't know. I could tell she was nervous when she spoke like that. "Baby, why don't you go to the lobby and wait. We won't be long."

She nodded. "Yes, ma'am. It was nice to see you again, Doctor."

When she was out of the room, he took a seat with a small laugh. "That child is something else. Reminds me a little of you when I first met you. What was it? Nearly twenty years ago."

"Yes, I believe so." I smiled and then sighed. "Crazy how life is sometimes."

"Yes, indeed." He smiled.

He ordered some tests for me for my fatigue. I was worried about it personally and I knew it was a little disconcerting for Adrian, too. Dr. Halvorson assured us it was most likely not anything serious.

Adrian left while I had the blood drawn. He was pretty used to it, but sometimes he still got a little overexcited when he caught the scent. Marti could probably use the company anyway.

* * *

"There are eight hundred and sixty-four tiles on the floor." Marti said when I sat down next to her.

I grinned. "You counted them all?"

"No. The room is thirty-two feet by twenty-seven feet. I multiplied."

"You are far too smart." I said admirably.

She smiled and turned to look at me. "Where's Mom?"

"Getting some blood drawn."

She gave me a calculating look. She leaned close and whispered, "Did you ever drink from her?"

I looked down at my hands and then nodded. "Yeah. It's not something I'm entirely proud of."

"Why?"

"Your mom and I both felt pretty guilty about it."

"Because it felt good?" She asked innocently. We'd given them both all the facts, especially for when we were at Court or Jill was in town.

I patted her hand. "Yes. It was before we were married. She was still pretty scared of that part of me."

"Did it happen any after that?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, actually. But we haven't in a long time."

She nodded.

I watched her a moment and then asked a question that scared me to no end, "Do you ever…think about boys…as more than friends?"

"Sometimes." She looked away. "Nikolai. I think about him like that." She looked up at me. "Is it wrong?"

"Why would that be wrong?"

"He's like family."

"He's _like_ family, but he's _not_ family. And you're only ten. So don't worry about it too much. If it's meant to happen, it will."

"And if it's not, then it won't?"  
"Right."

Sydney came out then. She stopped at the reception desk to make an appointment.

"Marti, you know you don't have to follow the rules. You're already kind of breaking them. Your mom and I definitely are. Be a good person and just do what feels right for you. Love who you love. Don't ever try to deny that. Okay?"

She nodded. "Of course, Daddy."

I kissed her temple as Sydney joined us.

"I come back the week before Christmas." She informed us. "And I have the okay to fly."

I stood and took her hand as we walked out the door. "Did he say anything else?"

"He thinks it might just be anemia. Until they get the test results, he wants me to add iron-rich foods into my diet. Not a supplement. Not yet until we know for sure. But I can add foods with more iron."

"So does that mean we can get kale?" Marti asked excitedly.

I rolled my eyes. "Normal kids your age don't even know what kale is, let alone request it."

"I love my kale chips, Daddy. I _have_ to have them."

Sydney laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You're my daughter, all right."

"We go to Court next week." I pointed out as we all settled into the car.

"We do." Sydney smiled and reached across the car to take my hand. She squeezed it gently. She'd been doing that more and more recently. "I'm so ready to pull Josh into my arms and never let him go."

I smiled. "Me too."

"I bet he's bulked up." Marti said from the back seat. "Do you think he's better than me now?"

"I don't know. You're still pretty good." Sydney looked at the dashboard clock. "And we'll get to see today. Your karate class is in twenty minutes."

She groaned. "I don't want to go."

"Too bad. This is the last class for a while and you need to keep at the top of your game."

"But why, Mom? I'm _not_ going to be a guardian. Isn't that what you want?"

I watched out of the corner of my eye as my wife turned in her seat.

"What do _you_ want, Marti?"

She was quiet for several beats until she finally said, "I really don't know."

"Have you completely ruled out being a guardian for _yourself_? Don't think about me and what I want. This is your life, Marti. Your dad and I never wanted to tell you what to do or who you had to become. So if you think somewhere in the back of your mind that you might change it and want to do what Josh is doing, then you need all the training you can get."

She was silent.

"Baby, I know I've not made it a secret that I really wish you wouldn't." Sydney said softly. "But just because I wish you wouldn't doesn't mean I don't wish the best for you. You learn the moves faster than Josh. You always have. You're a natural. You know that as well as any of us. I just don't want you to feel later in life that you threw away something great."

She said adamantly. "There's so much more to life, even as a dhampir, than fighting. I want to be something important. Guardians are important, but only for a select few. I want to change the _whole_ world. I'll go to karate. I'll keep going to karate. But it's only to keep the discipline for myself. Josh is our guardian. Maybe the other baby will want it, too, but I don't. It's never been something I wanted."

I looked in the rearview mirror to see Marti lean against the window just as Sydney turned back around in her seat. Sydney put her head against the head rest and let out a long breath. I kissed her hand and she smiled at me, relieved.

After watching her karate practice, Sydney and I cooked and we sent Marti to do her homework.

"How are you feeling?" I asked softly.

She smiled. "Stop worrying about me, Adrian." She rubbed my back.

I nodded and went back to chopping vegetables. "Marti was a little off today, don't you think?"

"Yeah. I think it was partly that conversation beforehand. I shouldn't push it."

"I try to remain neutral myself. But I can't help thinking that I would much rather none of them go away."

"I know. But we can't keep them babies forever."

I nodded. "Josh is gone. Marti will most likely stay. There's no telling about our little peanut just now." I shrugged. "But we'll be fine."

"I know we will." She put her hand on her stomach for a moment. "Do you have a preference?"

I thought a moment. "The first time, I didn't care at all. I was just happy we were having a baby. The second time, I mostly didn't care either, but I kind of hoped for a girl. To have one of each before you gave up on me." I put my hand on top of hers. "I definitely don't care this time. I just want another healthy, happy baby. And a healthy, happy wife."

She pressed a kiss to my lips. "I agree."

"We need to start thinking about our trip next week."

She laughed. "Since when do you want to plan ahead?"

I grinned. "Since my wife gets neurotic if I wait until the last minute."

She laughed again. "And it's a lesson you only took twenty years to learn."

"Twenty-one." I corrected, stealing another kiss. "Have I told you I love you today?"

"Not since this morning." She closed the gap between our lips.

"I love you, Sydney."

I felt her smile when she kissed me again.

"Can you two not keep your hands off each other for five minutes?" Marti asked from the doorway.

I chuckled. "Sorry, kid. Maybe one of these days you'll be blessed with someone to love and adore as much as I love and adore your mother."

Sydney gently scratched my back. "Are you done with your homework?"

She nodded.

"Would you like to help?"

"Yes, please." She bound over and eagerly took the knife her mother offered.

I watched them for a moment. When I was younger and drank and partied all the time, I never imagined my life would ever end up like this. I was so glad these days that it did.


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's note: I hope this new chapter finds you well on this lovely day. I present to you the beginnings of the Ivashkov-Castile-Dragomir Thanksgiving. Yay!_

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Six

"Marti, we are leaving in five minutes. We have a plane to catch." Sydney called up the stairs.

"I'll be right down, Mom. Keep your shirt on." She called back.

"Adrian, a little help?" She asked, giving me a plaintive look.

I called up the stairs, "Don't talk to your mother like that. And get your ass down those stairs and into the car or you're staying here." I placed a hand on Sydney's stomach. "Are you up for this?"

She smiled and put her hand on top of mine. "Yes. The baby and I are both fine. And nothing short of a Strigoi attack would keep me away from my son for another day. And if there _were_ Strigoi, Marti would give them a good fight."

I kissed her and then stepped back. "Marti Daniella Ivashkov, if you're not down here by the time I count to five—"

She appeared at the top of the stairs with a bag in each hand. "I'm ready. God!"

"Turn off the teenage angst, baby. You're only ten." Sydney said.

"Do you really need two bags? We're only there for four days." I took the bag before my wife could to pick it up.

"I have to be prepared for everything, Daddy." She explained.

Sydney and I shared a look. She shook her head. "I think she inherited your mania."

"I think she inherited _your_ over-preparedness."

Two minutes later, we were in the car, headed toward the airport. Jill had tried to get me to let her pull strings to get the private jet to us, but I refused. We were spoiled enough and could use some humble time in a crowded airplane.

"Adrian, pull over." Sydney said suddenly.

I did as she asked and she threw herself out of the car. I heard her getting sick and put the car in park. I ran around and pulled her hair out of her face. "You're okay." I said softly.

She stood up after a while and whipped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Well, hello, morning sickness."

"I'll make sure you have plenty of airsickness bags on the plane." I reached into the car and got her water bottle. "Here."

"Do you have gum or mints or something?" She rinsed out her mouth.

"In the center console. Are you going to be okay?"

She nodded.

"Then we need to get back on the road." I helped her back into the car and then ran around to the driver's side.

Sydney was miserable the entire plane ride. I asked the flight attendant to keep her supplied with water and crackers, slipping him an extra tip. Halfway through the flight, she curled into my side and fell into a fitful asleep.

"Is she going to be okay, Daddy?" Marti asked from the other side of her mother.

"She'll be fine. Sometimes pregnant women are sensitive to motion sickness."

"Can I do anything?"

"No, baby. She'll be okay."

"_You_ gave me a lot of trouble, Marti." Sydney said unexpectedly. "I was sick for a long time with you. And not even when I was moving around."

I kissed her forehead. "You need anything?"

She grabbed the airsickness bag from the back of the seat and lurched toward the bathroom. I could hear her getting sick, but there was nothing I could do to help. I sat and watched the door, waiting.

She came out a short time later and took her seat. She once again put her head on my shoulder.

"Do you need anything, Mrs. Ivashkov?" the flight attendant asked.

"Some more water, please." She said, smiling weakly at him.

"Right away." He scurried away.

"Mint?" I offered, holding out the container to her.

"My breath stinks, doesn't it?" She asked, taking one.

"No, baby, of course not."

She laughed. "You're such a good husband."

"I do my best." I rubbed her thigh. "We'll be there soon."

"It won't be soon enough." She took a deep breath in through her nose and let it out through pursed lips. She rubbed her stomach. "You're worth it, though."

I kissed her cheek. I knew it was still something she was unsure about sometimes. I woke up and found her crying so many times when she thought I was asleep. It wasn't just about the plans we'd been making now that our kids were older. It was the fact that _we _were older. She worried so much about not being around for them. And Josh was now taking on a dangerous profession at barely fourteen. He could very well only have a few more years left himself, if he wasn't careful.

Sydney sipped her water silently. She watched our daughter reading across the aisle.

I twirled a piece of her hair around my finger. "Your cheeks are rounder."

"Hm?" She turned to look at me.

"Your face is rounding out."

A look of distress flashed across her face, but she pushed it aside. "I'm not looking forward to that."

I cupped her cheek and rubbed my thumb across the bone. I leaned close and whispered, "Don't go down that road. Please don't."

"I'm trying." She whispered back.

I kissed her. I felt her smile against my lips. She moved away.

"I'd do more, but my mouth is gross." She mumbled.

"Not to mention the look of disgust playing on our daughter's face."

She looked over her shoulder just as Marti lifted her book higher to cover her face.

* * *

Marti was bouncing all over the place as we made our way through the crowd. Eddie was supposed to meet us. Marti was just as enamored of him as Josh had always been. He really was the cool guardian uncle, as I had called him all those years ago.

"Uncle Eddie!" She called, breaking out in a run toward the tall man standing near the doors.

He smiled and grabbed her up as she threw herself at him. "Marti-party! How was the trip?"

"Mom was sick the whole flight." She explained. "But everything else went well."

"Speaking of your mother," He said, rushing up to me. "You shouldn't be carrying those bags." He kissed my cheek. "Looking good." He said before he stepped back.

"Thanks." I tugged at my shirt.

"Don't do that." Adrian begged.

I gave him a reassuring smile and ran a hand down his arm.

"Oh, I brought someone with me. I let this be a bit of a field test." Eddie looked over our shoulders.

We turned to see Josh walking toward us. There was a smile on his face, but he was alert and looking everywhere.

He stopped in front of Eddie. "No threats that I can see, sir."

"Good. Now hug your mother."

Josh nodded and turned to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me up for a tight hug. When he put me back down I looked up and up. He had grown quite a bit both out and up. I put my hands on the sides of his face.

"You look so grown up."

"Nah." He said with a self-assured grin.

"You look good."

His grin widened. "So how's that baby brother of mine?" He asked, putting out a hand to hover over my stomach.

I grabbed his hand and put it on my growing belly. "Causing me some trouble. And we don't know if it's a brother or sister yet. Don't get your hopes up."

"It's not that big yet."

"It's only been three months, baby." I gently pushed him away. "Speak to your sister before she falls over."

He picked up Marti and spun her around. "We're going to spar this weekend. You and me. See if you can still kick my ass."

"Joshua." Eddie and Adrian warned at the same time.

Both men laughed.

"I have to keep on him about that." Eddie explained. "Kennedy repeats everything these days. So you watch yourself, too, Adrian."

My husband threw his hands up in defense. "Don't worry."

Josh finally walked towards his father. Adrian looked him over a moment before he gathered our boy in his arms. He whispered to him. I couldn't hear what he was saying in the din of the airport lobby. The two parted. Adrian smiled proudly, and patted Josh's cheek.

Josh leaned down and picked up the suitcases. "Which position should I take, Guardian Castile?"

Eddie smiled. "Why don't you and Marti hang back a bit? Be prepared. And what is it Dimitri always says?"

"Don't hesitate." The children said in unison.

Marti grinned and took one of the suitcases from her brother. In that moment, I felt a wave of fear wash over me.

Adrian grabbed my hand and squeezed it. But the fear wouldn't go away. _No, not Marti, too. _I thought. _Please, God, not her, too._ And I kept thinking that the entire ride to Court.

* * *

We stepped into the penthouse apartment that was now so much smaller than when Eddie and Jill had moved into it nearly thirteen years before. At the time there were several unused rooms. Now, all the rooms had a purpose and Jill had to move her studio to the building where her designs were made into patterns and then actual garments. It helped her oversee everything better anyway since her business had grown almost as quickly as her family.

We were all attacked by the Castile-Dragomir children. And then Marti was dragged away to Kennedy's room to see some new dress her mother had made for her. Ivanna and Kennedy both loved having one-of-a-kind creations from some of their mother's designs.

"Hey, can I have a minute with your wife?" Jill asked Adrian after she greeted us.

"Uh, I guess." He said, looking a little hurt.

"Go do guy things with Eddie. Burp and scratch yourself. We'll only be a few minutes." She dragged me away to her bedroom. "Something has happened."

I grabbed her arm. "Don't tell me Josh got some girl pregnant."

She laughed. "No. But someone else is pregnant. Other than you, that is."

I stared at her a moment. "You? Again? Are you trying to catch up with Lissa and Christian or something?"

She laughed again. "Well, maybe we're just trying to keep ahead of you." She stood and started pacing. "It's only a few weeks. I told Eddie. We haven't said anything to the kids yet. But when we do, I don't want it to take anything away from you."

"What would it take away from me?" I took her hands to stop her pacing. "Jill, how much do you want everyone to know?"

"I want to scream it from the rooftop."

"Then tell them. This is your family. Josh and Marti already know about our baby. They're the ones who matter. I don't…want a lot of pomp and circumstance. Tell them. Tell everyone. I'm sure Adrian will be very excited to raise another set of kids together."

"Yeah. Except maybe these ones won't lust after each other."

I took a step back. "And how exactly has that worked out?"

"Well, Josh kind of broke Ivanna's heart when he got caught making out with a dhampir girl when they both should have been in training and then with a couple different Moroi girls at parties both attended. It didn't help that one of the Moroi girls _was_ her best friend. They are no longer speaking."

"Oh, poor Ivanna." I sighed. "Say something to Adrian. Maybe he can talk some sense into him."

"Eddie's set him straight. He'll be fine. All of these things happened weeks ago. And Ivanna is fine, too. She's started dating a Moroi boy who is a couple years older."

"Lucky girl."

"We both know a thing or two about older men, don't we?" Jill said, nudging my arm. "Come on, pregnancy buddy. I have some news to deliver."

The children all got really excited to hear the news.

All except Kennedy. She looked at her mother and then at her father. "I don't want to not be the baby anymore."

Jill scooped the girl up and carried her into a corner to whisper to her.

"This is so cool." Marti said. "Two new babies just a few months apart."

"Who else is having a baby?" Nikolai asked.

"Didn't Josh tell you?" She dragged him off to explain the situation.

Ashley followed close on their heels.

"I bet he gets annoyed with that." Adrian said, pulling me down onto his lap.

"Stop." I moved away.

Eddie watched them as they disappeared into the older boy's room. "Niki mostly tolerates it. But he lets Ash know when he's had enough. And Ash has learned to back down once in a while."

"A bit of growing up." Adrian started playing with my hair. "Want to bet on gender?"

"Eh, we have two of each. I just want a healthy baby."

"Liar." Jill said, coming over after sending Kennedy off to play. "You were telling me last night you wanted another boy. You think boys are easier."

"Our boys are easier. The boys I train are easier. Girls get so moody. Especially when they hit puberty. Ivanna is still mostly unmanageable."

"You know you love me, though, Daddy." She said smugly as she walked into the room and sat on the arm of his chair.

"Of course, sweetheart." He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Just glad as glad as you are I don't have to have you in my classroom. We would be constantly butting heads."

"It's only because we're so alike." She pointed out. "That's what Mom says."

"It's true." Jill said. "What's everyone doing?"

"Niki and Marti are catching up. Ashley is in the way. Kennedy is latched onto Josh. And I am here. Because I am the good child."

"The good child would let the adults catch up on adult matters for a while." Her father said with a smile.

"Or start supper." Her mother contributed. "Please. The steak is ready to go."

"Ew, you're going to make me touch meat?"

"You drink blood."

"Only to survive. You know I'm a vegetarian now."

Eddie sighed. "_I'll _cook tonight. And I'll eat Ivanna's portion."

"I'll help." The girl said, in feigned exasperation. She followed her father out of the room.

Josh came in and sat down between his father and me. He draped his arms along the back of the couch. "Did Mommy and Daddy miss me?" He asked genially.

"Very much, baby." I leaned against him. His bulk made me feel so small now. "Your aunt told me a couple things, though. About some girls."

He blushed, which surprised me. "They were hot, Mom. And all over me. I couldn't help myself."

"Hey, don't ever let me hear you say something like that again. That's the excuse men give when they take advantage of someone."

"Seriously, Mom, I'm not stupid. I just made out with them. It was completely consensual, I promise. I'll never take advantage of _anyone_."

"You better not. Or you'll be happy, compared to me, when you're put in prison."

He swallowed hard. "Yes, ma'am."

"Keep it in your pants, son." Adrian said, patting his leg.

Josh jerked away. "God, Dad. I've heard all this before. Form you and Mom _and_ from Eddie and Jill. I don't want to screw anything up. And I don't want to get too involved with a girl when I've never trained with any of these kids until this year. I don't want any of them to have an excuse to go harder on me when no one's looking." He looked around the room at the three of us. "You don't have to worry about me."

"We'll always worry about you, Joshie." Adrian said. "You're our son and we love you. Doesn't matter how safe you are at the time. We will _always_ think of a million things that can hurt you in a million different ways."

Josh squeezed our shoulders. "I know. Hey, I'm starved."

Adrian smiled at the change of subject. "Eddie and Ivanna are cooking."

An odd look passed over Josh's face. He looked conflicted a moment and then nodded. "At least it won't suck tonight, eh, Aunt Jill?"

She laughed. "We all have to take our turns around here. Even if some of us, Joshua, are terrible."

He shrugged. "You should just accept that I suck."

"At least it's edible." She smiled affectionately at him. "I'll leave you to your parents and go see about the kitchen."


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's note: So I slipped into third person as I was writing this. But I fixed it. Obviously it's a struggle for me to do first person. But it's still fun! Please feel free to let me know what you think of the events of this chapter._

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Seven

I sat forward as Marti and Josh stepped into the middle of the ring. Sydney rubbed my back. I could feel her hands trembling. I put a hand on her knee and squeezed. "They'll be okay." I assured her.

She nodded and placed a hand unconsciously on her stomach.

Eddie smiled and reminded them of the rules. Then he stepped back and called them to begin.

They circled for a long time, trying to find an opening. Josh made the first move, but Marti easily dodged it and struck back.

As the match intensified, Sydney gathered up my shirt in her fist and pressed her eyes into my shoulder. She started whispering something that I realized was a prayer.

I sat back and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You know it's not real, baby." I murmured.

"I know. It's just more real here." She turned her eyes toward the arena.

All the children were gathered at the edge of the ring and cheered on their favorite. Lissa and Christian had arrived with their brood as well. Reggie and Chris were also in training, but none of their other children were interested in any physical training beyond learning to use their elements. The younger two seemed interested, but not nearly as much as her their brother and Reggie.

"Marti has good form." Christian commented as our daughter got her brother on the ground.

"Thank you. She's one of the best in her class." I said.

Sydney chimed in, "She's also one of the youngest in her group and can take down boys bigger than Josh."

"But Josh knows how to hold his own." I added.

Sydney finally watched with a more critical eye. "He's gotten better."

"He has. He might actually beat Marti this time."

A short time later, the match ended with Josh triumphant.

"That's my boy!" I yelled. "Good job, son."

Sydney pinched my thigh hard.

"Ow!"

"Marti!" She said with clenched teeth.

"Way to make him work, Marti." I called.

She beamed up at me. No harm done to her ego. She was as cocky as me for the most part.

"Better." My wife stood and made her way closer to the ring. She pushed the hair out of Josh's eyes. "You should get that trimmed."

"He's trying to grow it out like Dimitri." Ashley teased.

"Shut up, Ash." He snapped.

"Joshua." Jill scolded quietly.

Ashley didn't seem too upset and started chanting, "Josh is in love with Dimitri." He continued with the chant until Nikolai grabbed him in a headlock and rubbed a knuckle hard into his scalp.

"Ow! Mom, make him stop!" Ashley yelled.

Eddie stepped over and placed a hand on his oldest son's arm. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to. Nikolai let go and stepped back with a mumbled apology.

"I still don't understand how you can do that." I said in awe.

He chuckled. "I guess it helps that I'm trained to inflict pain with the snap of my fingers."

"Should have been a guardian." I said whistfully.

"You wouldn't have made it." Rose teased. "Your kids are good though. When are you coming to train, Marti?"

"Never." She said adamantly. "No offense, but I'm not the guardian type."

"Not everyone's made for it." Rose told her kindly. "At least you know and can make the choice so early."

"Thank you." Sydney said softly.

Rose shrugged. "I think your Josh is good enough to look after a high ranking Royal one day."

"They're usually the snootiest ones." Josh said, making a face.

"When can we see you and Eddie spar?" Marti asked Rose.

"I don't know." She looked to her friend. "What do you say, Castile?"

"I say let's go, Hathaway."

Rose jumped into the ring.

"I think Rose is going down." I heard Ashley say.

"Come off it, Ash. Just because he's our dad doesn't make him the best." Ivanna commented. "Rose is amazing. Aren't you paying _any_ attention in your training sessions?"

"Not gonna get you any extra points, Ladybug." Jill said with a smile. "Both are really good. This will be a close one."

And it was. Rose barely scraped by. She held out her hand to help him off the floor. "Good match."

"You too." Eddie turned to the crowd. "Who's next?"

Rose leaned on the barrier as the smaller children ran into the ring and started chasing after each other. She smiled as she watched all the children, many of whom called, "Aunt Rose, watch me!" as they ran past her.

"I'm watching." She assured them.

"So you and Dimitri gave up on the idea?" Sydney asked gently.

"It was just too much work. I didn't want to be off the job. And, as you can see, there are plenty of children that adore us."

Kennedy reached through the barrier and tugged on my shirt. "Uncle Adrian, will you come play with us?"

How could I say no to that? "Of course, sweetheart." I climbed in and hefted the girl onto my shoulders. I ran after the others. "Attack of the flying Kennedy!"

She laughed happily. I swung her down and scooped up the child closest to me, it was Eliza, Christian and Lissa's youngest. She screeched as I threw her into the air and caught her.

"Again!" She demanded.

I heard Sydney laugh and looked over my shoulder. She was feeling much better today which made _me_ feel better. I had left her talking with Rose and Eddie. When I turned at her laughter, I found Josh leaning on the fence, teasing his mother. He patted her stomach and she waved him off.

I gave the girl in my arms a quick squeeze and then sat her down. I rejoined my family. I draped an arm over Josh's shoulders. "Are you giving your mom a hard time?"

"Don't worry about it, Pop." He grinned. "Just pointing out that she's so tiny. I was asking if she was just making an excuse to try to keep you."

Marti piped up then, "I heard the heartbeat. It's real."

Her brother laughed. "I was joking, kid."

Sydney put a hand on my arm. "I need to lie down."

"Of course." I jumped back over the barrier and wrapped my arm around her waist. "I'll walk her back. The rest of you take your time."

Sydney leaned on me as we walked out into the night. "I don't think I could ever get used to this schedule."

"I thought the same thing about human time." I slipped my hand into hers and kissed it.

"You still stay up half the night." She teased.

"Only when I have an idea that captures my attention." I pulled her into an alley and pressed her into the wall. "Or you."

She rested her hands on my waist. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I really do need to lie down. I don't feel well at all."

I pressed a kiss to her lips and then stepped back. I took her hand once again and we walked along at a leisurely pace.

After a few silent moments, she smiled and said, "If I felt any better, I would pay you back for all the frustration you just gave me."

"What do you mean?"

She looked sideways at me and her smile turned into a seductive grin. "When you were playing with all the kids. It reminded me of all the times you played with our kids. It makes you so much more attractive. I mean, you're already handsome, but even more when you have a child in your arms."

"So what would you do to me if you felt better?" I said low, pressing my mouth to her neck.

She giggled as she thought about it. She answered, "Lock a door."

I laughed. "And then what?"

"Remove all your clothes. Run my tongue over every inch of your torso. Then take you into my hand…"

I gave a frustrated sigh. "Are you sure you're still feeling bad?"

She laughed again. "We'll see what happens when we're locked in the guest room."

"Good. Because there are plenty of things I want to do in return."

"Tell me."

"In detail?"

"Sure."

I grinned. "First, I'm going to lock the door."

She giggled.

"Then I'm going to kiss you until you can't breathe. I'm going to slowly remove every layer of your clothes. I'll kiss you from head to toe while you writhe beneath me and beg me to just get on with it. Then I'm going to pin your hands above your head—"

"I think that's enough. My goodness. I'm about to push you into the next alley we come to and have my way with you."

I lifted an eyebrow. "Feeling better then?"

"You can tell me when we get back to the penthouse." She tugged on my hand and started moving faster.

We let ourselves into the apartment. I pressed Sydney against a wall and kissed her hard. "I love you."

She smiled and moved away. She dragged me into the guest room. I locked the door as I kissed her. Our clothes quickly went away. I led her to the bed, admiring her lovely curves and the way her stomach protruded a little more than before. I dropped down onto my knees and placed my hands on her waist.

"I need to apologize to you in there, baby. This won't be the last time this happens." I kissed her stomach and then stood again.

"I told everyone I needed to lie down." She said as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

"So lie down." I kissed her neck. "I can do all the work." I reclined her on the bed.

She giggled. "I wouldn't make you do all that. But maybe we should hurry. We don't know when they will be back."

"Then stop talking." I smiled and covered her mouth with mine as my hand slid down her body. I slipped my hand between her legs.

She purred and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. She rocked her hips up to my touch.

"What do you want?" I asked against her lips.

"You said you'd kiss me everywhere." She responded, scratching her nails over my back.

I moaned. "Do you think we have time for that?"

"Probably not."

"So…" I dropped a soft kiss to her neck and then lower, trailing kisses down her torso. I nipped at her hip before pressing a kiss there. I looked up and smirked. I lowered my head between her thighs. "Here?"

She groaned. "Stop talking and get going. We don't have long."

I laughed and flicked my tongue over her. She moaned and tangled her fingers in my hair.

The door slammed open and there sound of children floated down the hall.

"Damn." She whispered, panting heavily.

"Just relax, baby." I assured her and pressed my mouth into her again.

She rocked into me. I heard the moans she suppressed. Her grip tightened on my head and that was it. She was gone. I gripped her hips and held her close as I finished bringing her through her orgasm. She relaxed with a heavy sigh into the mattress.

I rested my head on her hip and stared at her stomach.

"Where are they?" We heard Marti say in the other room.

"Resting." Jill said.

Josh snorted. "Sure, go ahead and call it that."

I kissed Sydney's stomach. "I better get out there." I trailed kisses back up her body and then lazily kissed her mouth. "You can nap if you want. You should probably get dressed, though." I kissed her again and then rolled out of the bed.

"We can revisit this later." She promised as she pulled on her underpants and one of my shirts.

I grinned. "I look forward to it." I finished dressing and then leaned over her. "You're amazing. Just so you know."

"I do what I can, baby." She smirked.

I chuckled. "I'll come get you for supper."

"I'm feeling much better. I may come out in a few minutes."

I kissed her again. "No rush."

She caught my hand. "You've made me feel better."

I sat back down on the bed. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now. Just know that I love you."

I kissed her hand. "Rest, baby."

She nodded and rolled over. "I'll be fine in a little while."


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's note: Sorry this chapter took a while. I'm working on getting another story of mine finished so I can start a new Sydrian/Jeddie story set in the Victorian Era. First chapter may be up in a couple weeks. We'll have to see. I've still got some things to work out there._

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Eight

We had agreed many years before that any visits Jill and Eddie made to us would alter both our schedules instead of either of us completely flipping our days around. It was Sydney who had suggested sleeping from six in the morning to about noon. When we started visiting Court, the shift was made twelve hours later: sleeping from six to midnight.

This helped accommodate the guests coming on a vacation. But it was also a pain when simply trying to get into a new schedule. I ended up staying up hours on end in the night. Between ten and midnight were the hours I usually got my most inspiration. I think it was hardest on me. The kids always loved the schedule. It meant they got to skip their naps when they were younger.

Now I lay awake beside my wife. I hadn't gotten much sleep. She had tossed and turned many hours, keeping me awake in her fitful sleep. Even after making love, it still didn't calm her. I heard Eddie and Jill moving around the house. He had duty at the main gate, all the Guardians rotated, even those who were instructors at the school.

As soon as the door closed, I rolled out of bed and pulled on my clothes. Jill was waiting for me in the kitchen, having sensed my intentions. She leaned against the counter with a cup of tea between her hands.

"Still worried, huh?" She asked as she took a sip.

"I think it's mostly fear, actually." I poured myself a glass of water. "She's a human. She's older. She's not the same as you or Lissa. Hell, even Rose could have a baby now and bounce back quickly." I shook my head. "And I don't think she believes she'll be able to handle it."

"The pregnancy or the baby?" She asked gently.

"Both. She's so depressed. Can you see it?"

"Through you. She's hiding it pretty well otherwise."

"I guess that's good. For the kids, anyway."

"I think Josh sees it." She said softly. "He watches her, tries to keep her laughing. Anything to keep her from dwelling too much on it."

"I think Josh is a little freaked out by it. His parents still having an active enough sex life to have a baby?" I shrugged. "I know it kind of grossed me out when I realized it."

Jill smiled. "I think, even if it grosses them out, that if we can teach our children one thing in this life that it is to find someone you love enough to take every opportunity given to screw their brains out. Even if you've been together twenty years."

I laughed out loud and quickly covered my mouth. "Maybe not in such graphic terms, but I agree."

She laughed along with me. "Well, I felt the rush you sent me earlier."

I examined her. "Is it still difficult for you?"

She sipped her tea and contemplated it for a while before she answered, "Sometimes. It gets frustrating when Eddie and I are in the middle of our own intimate moment or an intense argument and then whatever strong emotion you're feeling shoots through the bond. It's especially frustrating when the feeling is the complete opposite from mine."

"Like me being happy when you're angry?"

"Like you being frustrated or upset when I'm trying to feel sexy. It's kind of marred a few moments for us."

"Recently?"

She smirked. "Our anniversary. You and Sydney were having a disagreement about Josh wanting to train. And it was so intense that I had trouble blocking it and focusing on our moments together. It all kind of fell apart." She chewed her lip and her grin widened. "We made up for later."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm used to it by now. We've been doing this for just a few years longer than you've been married. I'm your longest constant female relationship. How does that make you feel?"

I laughed again. "How does it make _you_ feel?"

"Lucky. I know how you are in bed and have never had to even sleep with you."

"You know, that could have been fun." I pointed out.

"If I wasn't under age when it all started and you weren't in love with someone else." She pointed out.

I nodded. "True. But I think I can convince my wife that some experimentation is in order at this time in our lives."

"Not on your life." Sydney said from behind me.

I turned. "I thought you were sleeping."

"I haven't slept much in the last couple months. You know that." She admitted sadly.

I pulled her into my arms. "What can I do to help?"

She whispered, "Nothing you would do."

"I can't heal mental wounds, baby. I wish I could."

"I know."

"If you would let one of us use Compulsion, we could get you to sleep." Jill pointed out. "But I know that's always been one of the big things you hated, even after you got over everything else."

She paused. "You know, at this point, I'd try anything."

I was shocked by her admission. "Baby—"

"You do it." She told me. "Make me just forget about it for a few hours."

I cupped her face in my hands. "Are you sure?"

She took a deep breath and nodded.

I looked in her eyes and called up the bit of magic I needed for the act. "You'll go back to bed and have a nice, heavy, dreamless sleep until your alarm goes off. When you wake up, you'll be well-rested." I brushed a kiss across his lips.

She blinked a few times when I broke contact. A grateful smile played on her lips. "Good night."

"Good night."

She turned and headed back to the bedroom.

Jill held out her hand to me. I took it and removed the bit of darkness that had leaked through. Even though Compulsion was one of the things all Moroi had, Spirit users tended to have it more powerfully. It affected the bond in the way any other Spirit magic did, just not as intensely.

She squeezed my hand and then let it go. "We should both get a couple more hours sleep before the kids start stirring."

I nodded. I could use a few more hours at least holding Sydney in my arms, even if I didn't sleep.

* * *

I woke up feeling refreshed. Whatever Adrian had done to me, despite my fear, had helped. I hadn't slept that well in a long time. I stretched and accidentally hit my husband in the face.

"Ow! God, Sydney, what did I do?" He asked as he held his nose.

"I didn't hit you that hard, Adrian. Stop being a baby." I got out of bed and gathered my things for the shower.

He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back on top of him. He pressed a kiss to my neck. "Mind if I join you?"

"Yes. We're in someone else's home." She pushed my hands away. "I don't know what's gotten into you lately. Men your age aren't supposed to want sex this much."

"I'm not a normal man. And my beautiful pregnant wife deserves my affection as much as I can give it." He placed a hand on my stomach. "How do you feel?"

I felt it all creeping back in. I felt so hopeless lately. The only time it seemed to dwindle even a little was when Adrian made love to me or just kissed me so hard I could barely breathe. But it wasn't socially acceptable for us to stay in the room any more than we already had. Time to face the world and help Jill prepare the Thanksgiving feast.

The day was going wonderfully. Until, while helping bake, I pulled the pumpkin pie out of the oven and broke down in tears over the burnt crust.

Adrian wrapped his arms around me as Jill worked to distract the children in the living room. He whispered words of comfort to me until I calmed. I still clung to him, even if my chest was no longer heaving. Tears still streamed out of my eyes and onto his shirt.

I had been a little weepy when I carried Josh, not so much with Marti. But this was different. It seemed to come from a different part of me. I knew rationally that it was just a stupid pie that had set me off. No one would care that the edges were a little too brown. But that wasn't really why I was crying in that moment. I knew that too. Far too many tears had been shed in these last few months for me to know that.

I didn't want to admit aloud about the depression, but Adrian knew. He had to know. His powers of observation were beyond match, especially where I was concerned. He had always seemed to know everything going on with me.

"You want to lie down?" He asked, kissing me just below my ear.

"No, I'm fine now." My voice shook.

"Then at least sit down and let Jill and me finish this."

I looked up at him. "Tell me everything's all right."

He wiped my tears away and smoothed hair away from my face. "You know it is, Sydney." He kissed my forehead, the tip of my nose, and finally brushed his lips over mine. He whispered, "I wish you would talk to me. _Really_ talk to me. I'm going through this too."

"But it's not the same. And I don't think you'd get it."

"I'm still here, baby, if you ever want to try to make me understand."

I nodded and pressed my eyes to his shoulder once more. "I know you already know."

I stepped back and looked into the living room where Ivanna and Josh were now arguing over what movie to watch as Jill attempted to referee. In the end, there was no point. Josh would give in soon. He always did where Ivanna was concerned; he just liked to give her a hard time.

When she came back into the kitchen, Jill rubbed my back and gave me a smile. "Those kids of ours will be the end of us." She commented as she picked up her list off the counter. She marked something off.

Eddie stepped through the door and Kennedy let out a high-pitched squeal as she launched herself at him. "Daddy's home!"

"Yes, Daddy's home and he's tired." Eddie kissed the girl and put her down and then met us all in the kitchen.

I turned away as he and Jill shared a kiss and spoke softly to each other. I always felt like I was intruding on them in these moments, but they never seemed to care.

"Everything looks great, guys. I'm going to shower. Then I'll come help with the rest of it." He kissed Jill once more and then left.

"You two disgust me." Adrian teased as soon as he was gone.

"At least you don't have to be in my head." Jill shot back. "Talk about disgusting."

I sat and watched the friends as they joked back and forth. I chopped some vegetables Jill had passed to me. I couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

When Eddie rejoined us, his dark hair still damp, he sat down beside me with his own cutting board and knife. "Jill thinks my cooking is sloppy and lazy and usually just makes me cut up things anyway."

"I do not." Jill argued.

He gave her a dazzling smile. "Admit it, babe, you think you're better than me."

"I _know_ I'm better than you. And I just prefer to be the one who cooks. You actually leave the house every single day and preform very physical work."

"I thought you all took turns." Adrian commented.

"We do. Mostly. Ivanna loves to cook, but Josh doesn't and he's not very good at it. I think on purpose. Anyway, it's the least I can do to make them a good supper almost every night."

"Hey, that sounds familiar." I said, smiling at my husband.

"She stole it from me." He commented, flicking flour in her face.

"Hey, we're the ones who have to clean up in there, don't make a mess." Ivanna called from the living room.

Adrian gave a mischievous grin and dropped a handful of dough on the floor. "Oops! Sorry, Ivanna."

The adults laughed. I looked over my shoulder to see the girl staring aghast at her uncle.

"Uncle Adrian, what did you just do?" She asked.

I noticed Marti and Kennedy staring over the back of the couch and giggling. The boys could care less, it would seem.

"Nothing, honey. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll clean the kitchen until it shines." He picked up a handful of flour and started dropping bits on the floor and the counters.

"He's going to clean it up himself." Jill called.

"You knew I was going to do it." He brushed the dust from his hands.

"Yeah, but nothing was going to stop you. You mostly only ever seem to listen to Sydney, when you decide to listen at all." She smirked. "You'll clean up most of that. Or you will clean the whole kitchen. And if you don't do that, you're never allowed back in my house."

They stared each other down for a moment before Adrian let out an exaggerated sigh and went for the broom. Jill ended up helping him, still giving each other a hard time.

I turned to Eddie. "Your wife is a flawless woman."

He grinned proudly. "Your husband is…a good guy."

I laughed. I poked him in the ribs with my elbow. "You never admitted to your man crush. But I see it."

He looked down. "Well, I envy him sometimes. No as much anymore. But when you were first married. You were able to be a lot freer than Jill and me because you weren't here." He locked eyes with his wife and then turned to me once more. "I have a giant man crush on your husband."

"Aw, thanks, Eddie." Adrian said with a smile. He seemed genuinely touched. "The feeling is mutual."

Eddie's cheeks took on a slight shade of red and mumbled his thanks.

After just a couple more hours in the kitchen and the children complaining about starving, everything was done and we were gathered around the dining table. Conversation rose in excitement as everyone ate and passed the food around.

Adrian watched me and I caught Josh's fleeting glances. I looked down at my plate. I wasn't very hungry. It took me a long time to have a good appetite and not stress about my caloric intake. Josh, as observant as his father, knew that I usually ate well at these family feasts. Now I just had a few small servings of all the dishes. I reached forward and picked a roll out of the basket in front of me and slathered it in butter.

My husband smiled across the table at me. "Are you okay?" He asked quietly.

I nodded. "Stop worrying."

"You're doing enough of that for both of us." He reached out to me and squeezed my hand. "Relax. You'll be okay."

I nodded again. _Easy for you to say._


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's note: Thank you guys for reading. I have recently started a new Sydrian/Jeddie story called _**The Dullest Knife**_ about a marriage of necessity between Adrian and Jill set in the 1890s. I hope you'll go give it a read and let me know what you think._

_And please let me know what you think about this story. I've got a lot of good stuff planned for the next few chapters. _;)_ So brace yourselves for a bunch of awesome!_

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Nine

Leaving Josh was just as difficult as the first time. I cried on Adrian's shoulder the entire trip home. I know that it was partially the hormones pumping through me because of the baby, but I missed my son. It was sometimes nice not having to deal with the fighting between him and Marti, but there were some nights it was too quiet without it.

Adrian and I settled into bed together when we were home, but I knew he wasn't in much of a mood to sleep. He twirled a piece of my hair around his finger.

"If you're not sleeping, go paint or something. You're keeping me awake."

"I'm sorry." He kissed my cheek. "I'll be in my studio."

"Okay." I rolled away and slept.

As I slept, I dreamed of our children. I saw who they would become. I saw our baby, in my mind it was a girl, and she was a guardian like her older brother. They worked together perfectly, reading each other on even the slightest motion. I could see the pride in Josh when they got everything right.

And then there was Marti. She floated from one thing to the next. She had training as an architect, but she often helped in the shop. She sang at clubs on amateur nights and took dance lessons. She was our free-spirit.

I awoke to my alarm the next morning. Adrian's arm was flung over me and he continued to snore through it. I didn't remember him getting back into bed with me. I hit the snooze and rolled into my husband. I kissed the tip of his nose and he stirred slightly.

His hand moved to my stomach and then he rolled onto his back and continued to sleep. I put my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat and his breathing as I waited for the alarm to sound once more.

Adrian groaned when it went off. "Stay home with me today."

"Why? You've been with me almost constantly for days." I got up and gathered all my things for my shower.

"I don't like you going to that shop. I never did."

"I don't work with the cars anymore, sweetheart; just out front dealing with the customers." He laughed when I made a face. "I'm fine. And I'll be stuck there until the baby comes."

"I know." He got out of bed and wrapped his arms around me. "I painted a picture of you last night."

I rested a hand on his waist. "You have commissions."

"I know I have commissions. But I wanted to paint a picture of my wife, so I did. You've always been my favorite subject, Sydney." He pressed a kiss to my lips.

I smiled. "That's good to know. But pictures of me don't pay the bills."

"But they do, baby." He kissed me again. "You're beautiful. Everyone knows that. Plenty of people have bought my pictures of you."

I moved out of his arms. "I'm glad everyone knows it, but I need to get ready for work."

* * *

It was a slow day, so I had time to contemplate my dream. It was hard enough having one guardian in the family, let alone two. But Adrian and I never fought it, though we often fought about it. And why did I dream our third child was a girl? Was my subconscious trying to tell me something?

"Sydney, I'm closing down." My mom said, bringing me out of my latest daydream.

"I have all the paperwork done for the day." I picked up the log book and handed over the receipts for the day's repairs and other sales. She would go over them later at home.

He looked me over and then asked, "Are you okay?"

I gave her a reassuring smile. "Just a little tired, is all."

She smoothed hair away from my face. "How's the baby?"

"We have another appointment in a couple weeks. But we're fine." I rubbed my stomach. "I had a dream last night that she was a guardian like Josh."

"You're having a girl?"

I shrugged. "My dream made her a girl."

"Sometimes our dreams know more than us." She said. It was something she used to say a lot when I was a kid.

I nodded. "Anyway, she and Josh were amazing together in the dream. And Marti didn't know what she wanted." I laughed. "I don't know if she ever will."

"She told me she wanted to be an architect."

"She fluctuates between architect and doctor. So unless something changes, she'll be one of the two. And she's only nine, so we'll see. It could be something completely different. She's starting dance lessons next year."

"Yes, we'll see. Go home. You've worked hard today."

I laughed. "So hard. One customer right after another."

My mom grinned. "I hate slow days, too."

I paused when we got out to our cars. "That old Buick over there."

"What about it?"

"The owners decided they didn't want it?"

She sighed. "Yeah, they decided the cost of fixing it wasn't worth it. They have the money to buy a new one. What a shame. It sure is a beauty."

"Could I buy it? I've always wanted to fix up an old car with Marti and Josh."

She smiled. "You can have it. We'll tow it to your house tomorrow. But I suggest not doing much until after you have the baby. If your doctor wants you away from the cars in the shop, he won't be too happy to learn you're working on one at home."

I nodded and hugged her. "Thanks, Mom."

"Any time, baby."

As I drove home, snow started falling lightly. I thought about the prospect of fixing up that car. I always wanted to do it and never had a chance for it. I hoped Josh and Marti would be receptive to it.

Adrian was already cooking supper when I got home. I breathed deeply and let out a sigh. "Honey, I'm home." I brushed snow out of my hair and off my coat.

"Mom, tell Dad I can go to Katie's party this weekend." Marti begged as she walked in from the living room.

"Nice to see you, too." I pulled her to me. "Who is going to be at this party?"

She rattled off a list of names that I knew. The couple I didn't she told me about.

"Will her parents be there?"

"Yes." My daughter said in exasperation.

"Let Dad and me talk about it." I kissed the top of her head. "Hey, want to start a project with me?"

"What sort of project?"

"There's an old Buick Riviera at the shop. It broke down and the owners thought the labor and everything wasn't worth it, so they left it. Grandma said we could have it to fix up."

Her eyes lit up. "That sounds so cool, Mom."

"I'm glad you think so." I gave her a little squeeze. "They'll tow it here tomorrow and we can look it over to see what needs to be done and create a plan. We can't do too much until after I have the baby, but we can look under the hood and take a few things apart. Maybe we can get Daddy to help."

"Josh and I can take the heavy stuff out over Christmas." She said helpfully as she followed me into the kitchen.

"What are you guys talking about?" Adrian turned and kissed me. He patted my stomach. "Hi."

"Hi." I wrapped my arms around him a moment as Marti told him about the car. I kissed his neck. "That's okay, isn't it?" I stepped away.

"Sure. It'll get you guys out of my hair this summer." He ruffled Marti's hair. "And give me a chance to spend time with the baby."

"You'll make lots of paintings and sketches of it, won't you?"

"You know it." He grinned. "What did you say about the party?"

"I said we'd talk about it."

Marti sighed. "I have to know something by Wednesday."

"And you will, baby." I patted her back. "Go finish your homework."

After she was out of the room, I sat down at the kitchen table. I told Adrian about the dream I'd had the night before.

"Oh, Marti." He said affectionately. "She'll never know what she's doing."

"She may get into the rebuilding of the car and decide to be a mechanic. Three generations of Sage women, breaking gender barriers." I smiled.

"Marti is an Ivashkov." He said with pride.

I chuckled. "Yes, I know. But she's very much her mother, don't you think?"

He turned and watched me a moment. "Oh, yes." He turned back to the counter and finished chopping vegetables. "So you think it might be a girl?"

"My subconscious seems to want it. What do you think? Be honest."

He took a moment to think. "I worry about Josh because he is just like me in so many ways; always chasing after girls, not worrying about his studies. Marti is a mixture of both of us. She's smart and loves to learn, but she also loves a good time and if she can do that rather than learn, well…" He shrugged. "She's mostly you, though. Marti's been easier. But when she's a few years older, I know I'll have to watch the boys. She's already beautiful. And she's learned the fine art of flirting Ivashkov-style." He shrugged again. "Eddie thinks boys are easier. But he was never a teenage boy like me. So, I don't know. I really don't."

"There's a chance that if we have another boy, he'll be more like me. And if we have another girl, she'll be more like you. I don't know either. But I think we've taught our kids well enough to know the consequences of their actions. So have fun, but know that if you have too much fun, you won't get very far in life."

He put a bowl of salad in the middle of the table and smirked at me. "I did."

"You're the exception, not the rule. And you learned well from your mistakes quickly. Not to mention that if you weren't connected to Jill, it would be an entirely different story. You may have already drunk yourself into an early grave. And where would I be?"

"Still an Alchemist. Oblivious to your magical abilities. Scared to death of us."

"Lonely. Probably married to an Alchemist who didn't love me and demanded four or five children, all of them following in their parents' footsteps." I chewed on my lip and then smiled. "I guess I'm glad Jill got shot. Which sounds morbid, but it's true."

He brushed a quick kiss across my lips. "I want another daughter as beautiful and intelligent and just plain amazing as her mother."

Marti stepped into the room. "Are you two done being all lovey-dovey? I'm starving."

Adrian chuckled and pulled me to my feet. He dipped me back and gave me a hard kiss reminiscent of the kiss he gave me on our wedding day. He lifted me back up and made sure I was steady. He smiled at our daughter. "Done now. Set the table, will you?" He walked back over to the stove and started gathering the food and placing it on the table.

I got up to help, but Adrian gently pushed me back down. "Stay off your feet, baby." He said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

"I heard what you said about the baby." Marti said as we started eating. "I want a baby sister. With Daddy and Josh, there's enough testosterone in this family."

"And what do you know about testosterone?" Adrian asked, giving the girl a critical look.

"Enough." She said seriously. "And boys are gross. I want a sister."

"Well, we'll find out in a couple more months." I assured her. "Until then, we'll just be happy we're having a baby of any gender."

She nodded. "Good plan, Mom. So do I get to go to that party this weekend?"

Adrian grinned. "And now she's just like her Daddy."

I patted his hand. "Daddy and I still have a lot to discuss about that, Marti."

"I never go anywhere." Marti pointed out.

"You go plenty of places." I returned.

"And we were all just together at Court. Can I have a night away with my friends?"

Adrian and I exchanged a look. "She has a good point." My husband said. "And if she goes with her friends overnight, we can have a date night and stay out all night ourselves. Pretend we're young again."

I chuckled. "Let me talk to Katie's mom and find out more, then we can say for sure. But it's a tentative yes."

She squealed. "Thank you, Mommy!"

I laughed. "I still have to talk to Katie's parents."

"I know. But thank you."

The rest of the meal passed in virtual silence. Nothing uncomfortable or hostile, but none of us had much to say after that. I watched my husband as he affectionately watched Marti. She cleaned her plate and took seconds.

"I have more homework." She announced as she stood from her seat. "It was delicious, Daddy."

"You have charge of cleaning up the kitchen tonight." Adrian called after her.

"I'll do it." I said. "Marti, finish your homework and then relax."

"Sydney." Adrian warned.

"Adrian, I worked on cars until my sixth month with both the other two. I'm not fragile. Stop treating me that way. Let me do something around here."

He sighed and nodded. "Whatever you feel comfortable with, baby."

I covered his hand and leaned closer. "The main reason you're all for Marti going to that sleepover is so that we can make love like crazy people all night, isn't it?"

He smirked and squeezed my hand. "You know the way to my heart, Sydney."

"The way to something, anyway." I pressed a kiss to his smiling lips. "I'll get the dishes before I sit down and don't feel like getting back up."


	10. Chapter 10

_Author's note: Pretty excited to share all the upcoming things with you. Things are about to get pretty fantastic!_

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Ten

"Can you not sit still for five more minutes?" I asked with a laugh. I had my sketchbook open on my lap and was drawing furiously.

"No. Your child is pressing on my bladder." Sydney squirmed. "I'll remember how I was sitting." She got up and hurried to the bathroom.

I sat and chewed on my pencil as I waited. I looked at the picture of my wife I'd been working on. _God, she's gorgeous!_ I thought. I finished the picture by memory.

She leaned against the wall and smiled sweetly. "So?"

"Come here, you beautiful woman." I held out my hand to her.

She took it and sat down on my lap. "Marti is gone and all I've done is sat here while you sketched. So, I think it's time you make good on that promise."

I smirked. "Which promise?"

"You know which promise." She cupped my face between her hands and pressed a kiss to my lips.

"Right here?"

"If that's what you want. We've been relegated to our room for years. Here, on the couch? Could be kind of hot."

"Is that going to be okay for you?" I put a hand on her stomach.

She smiled and moved to straddle me. "Of course. Especially if we do it like this."

I pulled her down for a kiss. Our mouths moved together in a familiar way. It was always the same, but I was like a starving person when it came to her kisses. I slipped my tongue into her mouth and she responded with a moan. I pulled her hips down to my own.

She sat back and pulled off her shirt. I caressed her slightly protruding stomach. "Can you feel that fluttering thing yet?"

"I have." She covered my hands with hers. "For a couple weeks now."

"That's so cool." I kissed her. "Do you know how amazing you are?"

"Tell me." She said against my lips.

"Your body is so soft." I moved my hands over her exposed flesh. "Your kiss is still my favorite thing." I brushed my lips across hers. "And I just love you. Everything about you."

We undressed each other between long kisses. We made love slowly. She sat back a little after a few strokes, giving me a great view of her breasts. As she grew closer, she leaned into me once more, kissing me and murmuring how much she loved me.

I followed a short time later. We continued to kiss for a while afterward. I felt her smile against my lips. I stroked her cheeks and smiled along with her.

She rested her head on my shoulder. "I love you."

"Me too." I ran a hand down her back. "Can I draw you like this?"

"It might be kind of difficult to hold your sketchbook." She chuckled and kissed my neck. "Anyway, I look like a beached whale naked right now, so maybe not. Why don't I put my clothes back on and you can finish the other one."

"You look fine like this." I argued. "You're amazing. I told you that before." I flipped her onto her back and then moved to get my art supplies. I pulled on my pants, of course. It was a little cold.

"Don't make me see it when you're done." She pleaded.

I leaned in and kissed her softly. "I still wish you could see yourself the way I see you." I sat back and started drawing furiously.

"I do sometimes." She rubbed her stomach. "This one makes it worth it, I guess."

"Makes what worth it?"

"Gaining all the weight again." She mumbled.

I heard the hitch in her voice.

"And having a baby at my age…" She covered her face. "I can't." She got up and started dressing.

"Sydney—"

"I don't want to talk about it."

I put the sketchbook on the table and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Look, I know that you're having a hard time with this, but I'm here for you. I need you to talk to me, Sydney. Talk to me and tell me what you need, what you want. Anything. But for the love of God, stop shutting down when this subject comes up."

Her head dropped. "I don't want to be pregnant. I'm happy that I am for the most part. I'm happy we're having it. But being pregnant and everything that goes with it…" A sob left her. "It's not that I don't love you or love this baby, Adrian, but I have body issues and I know you know that. The hormones don't help. And I'm so much older. That's what I keep going back to. I shouldn't be pregnant at my age. I should have been smarter about all this." She stepped away.

"Do you need me to do anything?" I asked helplessly.

She shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know how to make it any better. Depression is common with unexpected pregnancies, especially later in life. Having previous mental illness with an eating disorder doesn't help, but I thought I'd be better by now."

"Stop talking so clinically." I pulled her to me. "Calm down. You'll be okay."

She pressed her face into my shoulder. "With you, I just might."

"Come on, let's go to bed and cuddle for a while until we're tired."

She looked up at me and smiled, her eyes still glistening. "Why are you the perfect man?"

I smirked and shrugged. "Just how it works, baby." I lifted her into my arms and carried her up the stairs.

"You need to turn out the lights." She commented. "You're the worst when it comes to that."

"Marti has me beat, I think." I sat her down at the top of the stairs and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Get comfortable. I'll make sure everything is off."

"Don't be forever." She called as she walked into the room.

* * *

After that night when I told Adrian my fears, it was a little easier. And when I felt myself getting low, I was able to tell my husband and he did his best to remind me that everything would be okay. It got a little better.

Christmas was one of my favorite times of year. It would be so much sweeter this year because Josh would be home for two weeks. We put up the tree, but didn't decorate it. Josh said he wanted to help when he got home. We decorated the rest of the house, though. Marti was obsessed with it and pestered us until we finally did.

On the day Josh was set to come home, she climbed up on the roof with her father to hang lights on the house. I stood underneath with my coat wrapped around me for a long time, watching nervously.

She called down, "Stop worrying, Mom. I know how to fall and not get hurt too badly."

"You might still get hurt, baby. And I will always worry about you."

"We're fine, Mom." She said in exasperation.

"Yeah, Mom, we're fine." Adrian called down in the same tone of voice. He peered down and smiled sweetly "Will you make us some hot chocolate? We'll be done soon."

I sighed. "Yeah, it's too cold to stand out here anyway." I gave him a pleading look. "Don't let her fall."

"She won't, baby." He assured me. "Love you."

"Love you." I walked inside to the kitchen and started making the hot chocolate just as my phone rang.

"Hey, Mama!" Josh said on the other end.

I grinned so big at hearing his voice that my cheeks hurt. "Hi, my boy! What are you doing?"

"Getting ready to board a plane and head home at a ridiculously early hour."

I laughed. "Are Jill and Eddie with you?"

"Jill is. She said Dad and Marti were on the roof, so I should call you."

"Yeah. Your sister wanted to get the house decorated. She's been bugging us since we got back. Dad finally gave in." I took out two mugs and poured the hot chocolate into them just as Adrian and Marti came inside.

"But not the tree, right?" He asked anxiously.

"No, baby, not the tree." I chuckled.

"It started snowing." Marti said excitedly as she took the mug from me.

I pulled the phone away. "Glad your dad decided to come in."

"We were done anyway." Adrian said. "Is the flight running on time?"

I relayed the question.

"Yeah. And hopefully I'll be sitting next to a hot college girl and the trip won't seem as long."

"Joshua, there's more to life than girls." I scolded.

Adrian laughed. "Says you."

I slapped his chest playfully.

"Not much, Mom. Here, Jill wants to talk to you."

"Okay. I love you, baby. See you in a few hours."

"Love you, too, Mom."

"Hey, Sydney." Jill said sweetly.

"Hi. Is my son staying out of trouble today?" I walked into the other room and sat down on the couch.

Jill chuckled. "He's trying. But I look at him and I see Adrian so clearly. He's flirting with every female he sees."

"It scares me." I admitted.

"I know. Me too. But he'll be okay. He's only fourteen. Even his father snapped out of it."

"He was in his mid-twenties." I rubbed a hand over my stomach.

"Josh is training to be a guardian. He'll grow up or he won't last." She paused. "So how are you feeling? Over the morning sickness?"

"Mostly. Thank God. You?"

She laughed. "I'm one of those lucky women you hate. Only had a few really bad days like the other two."

"Bitch." I mumbled.

"Yeah, I know. A giant one. So I'm coming in with Josh this time. Is that okay? I need to see Adrian."

I assured her, "Of course, it's fine. You don't have to ask."

"I just wanted to make sure."

"But just you?" I asked in concern.

"Yeah, Eddie's working. And I can only stay a few days. Royal things. I hate being a princess." She sounded tired.

"Are you okay?"

"I will be once I see Adrian." She stopped talking when an announcement was made over the intercom. "They're calling our flight. See you in a few hours."

"See you soon."

I got up and met my husband and daughter in the kitchen. They sat at the table, sipping their drinks and laughing about something. As I watched, Adrian leaned forward and whispered something to her. She broke into another fit of giggles.

"What's so funny in here?" I walked toward the coffee pot.

Marti answered, "Daddy's telling me stories about Hopper again. Did he really exist, Mom?"

"He did really exist. He was a great little creature." I gave her a doting smile.

Her eyes lit up. "Could you bring him back?"

I sat down with my cup of coffee. "No, I can't. You know the only magic I perform is when I renew the protection spell around the house every year."

Her face dropped. "Can I try some?"

I exchanged a nervous look with Adrian. "I don't know, baby. It's dangerous."

"Why? You do it. And you have all those charms. You should at least let me know how they all work, just in case."

I covered her hand with mine. "Look, I'll teach you a few things, small things. But not yet. Have a little more time without it. It's a lot of work. You've seen me after the protection renewal."

She nodded.

Adrian jumped in. "Why don't you go watch TV or something, Marti?"

"Why? Are you going to start talking about adult things?"

I chuckled. "I don't care if you stay." I leaned into Adrian and kissed him.

"Ew! Do you really need to make out in the kitchen?"

Her father smirked. "We make out everywhere. The kitchen, the living room, your room—"

"Gross! No way!"

I laughed. "That last one was about ten years ago. But, yes, we've made out in every room of this house."

"Just made out, though, right?"

"Sure." I lied.

"You two are disgusting." She said good-naturedly as she stood. "But it's kind of cool. Most of my friends' parents barely touch."

Adrian and I watched as she sauntered out of the room.

He kissed my temple. "What did Josh have to say?"

"Not much. I talked with Jill for a bit. She's coming with him. She needs to see you."

"Not Eddie or the kids?" He asked, a little dejected.

I shook my head and explained the reasoning our friend had given for coming alone.

"At least I'll get to see her." He admitted.

"So what do we have left?"

"Marti and I finished the roof. And we have the lawn creatures ready."

"Did you get all the tree ornaments down?" I stood and started gathering the ingredients for spaghetti.

"Yes." He walked over to his coat by the door and came back. "I saw something today while Marti and I were out shopping." He handed me a box. "Baby's first ornament."

I opened the small box. Inside was a metal ornament shaped like a teddy bear. There was an inscription on the stomach that read, "Ivashkov #5's first ornament."

I chuckled. "I love it."

"Do you think Josh will be upset of we put that one on the tree now?" He asked, rubbing my stomach.

"I don't think so." I walked into the living room and placed the ornament on the tree.

"Do you like it, Mom?" Marti asked over the couch.

"I love it. Did you help pick it?" I leaned over and kissed the top of her head.

"Yeah. I got a real teddy bear for the baby, too."

"Awesome. I'm sure the baby will love it come May. I need to finish supper." I kissed them both again and then returned to the kitchen.


	11. Chapter 11

_Author's note: Sorry this has taken a while, I've been trying to get some reading done. And I've also been working on _The Dullest Knife_. If you haven't read that one, I suggest you go give it a look and see what you think. I hope the events in this chapter make up for the lack of a sooner update._

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Eleven

"Do you really have to leave, Jill?" Adrian asked.

I laughed and rubbed his back. "She has a family."

"Yeah. Us." He pulled Jill into a tight embrace and kissed her cheek. "Keep yourself safe, kid. Next time we see each other, we'll both have babies."

She laughed. "And I hope we have one of each. And they'll get married and we'll be even more stuck together."

Adrian smirked. "I like the sound of that." He kissed her again and stepped away.

I took my turn. "I hope you have a safe flight. Call us when you make it home. Did you get the presents?"

"Yes." She gave my back one more pat. "If you need anything..."

"You too."

"Bye, Aunt Jill." Marti said, throwing her arms around the woman.

Jill kissed the top of her head. "Take care of yourself, Marti. And remember what I told you."

She blushed and nodded. I'd have to get that out of one of them later.

Josh was last. He wrapped his arms around Jill and lifted her up. "She you in two weeks, Auntie!"

She laughed happily when he spun her around. He sat her down. "And, uh, let Iva know..." He looked around at us and leaned in. He whispered something that made Jill's smile shift to something fond and reassuring.

She nodded.

"Bye, Jill." He said at last, turning and heading out of the airport.

"Josh, wait!" Marti ran after him, leaving us adults alone.

I should be worried, but with all their training I knew I knew the worry lay with everyone else's safety.

"It's times like this I wish the bond went both ways." Adrian commented.

Jill smiled. "Josh wants to make it right with Ivanna. He knows he gave her a bad deal and he asked me to talk with her to get a feel for what she thinks. And Marti thinks she might have a crush on Niki. I told her she needed to just let it go and her heart will decide for her."

I smiled. "And they decided to talk it all out with you?"

She shrugged. "Josh just wanted me to bring a message home."

"At least they aren't keeping it inside." Adrian said.

I nodded. No arguing there.

"I need to go." Jill hugged us each again. "See you in a few months."

We watched her leave and then Adrian wrapped his arm around my waist. "Let's get going ourselves."

Beside the car, Josh was showing Marti a couple moves he'd learned since we saw him last. He demonstrated them and then she mirrored his movements.

"Time to get in the car now." Adrian pressed the button to unlock the door and then handed me the keys.

I was shocked. He didn't give up the keys to me easily these days. "You want me to drive?"

He shrugged. "You said it was making a funny noise."

I grinned and got in the driver's seat. It had been sounding off, but the car was almost fifteen years old. We'd bought it just before we had Josh. I knew it needed a tune-up and some belts changed, but we hadn't gotten around to that yet. And I had explained this to my husband several times. It was one of those things that ended up going one ear and out the other.

As we got on the highway, I heard Josh tell Marti softly in the back, "You would be a great guardian, you know. You're already as good as me and you're younger. You're more of a natural. You'd be great if they got you cultivated."

My heart constricted. And then Marti answered and I relaxed.

"But I want to be something different. Just because we're dhampirs, doesn't mean we have to be guardians. Mom and Dad always said we could be what we wanted to be."

"It's never too late." He said.

* * *

Josh was good about spending equal amount of time with each of us. He and his father painted a little, though he wasn't as good as Adrian and readily admitted it. He and his sister sparred and talked about life at Court. She didn't want to be a guardian, but she was fascinated with the goings on there and always ate up any news.

He and I looked over the old car in the garage. He helped me plan out how we would do everything.

"So it doesn't run at all?" Josh asked as he spun a wrench around like a New Year's Eve noise-maker.

"Nope. The previous owners didn't take good care of it. It has an oil leak among other issues. They ran it to the ground. We'll have to replace everything." I smiled. "Rebuilding an engine is a very Zen experience."

"So you, me, and Marti are all doing this together?"

"This summer, after the baby is a little bigger and doesn't need me as much, yes." I looked him over. "This is something you want to do, right? You know you don't have to. I just thought it would be something fun for us to do together away from fighting and magic."

A smile spread over his features. "Yeah, Mom, of course. And then I get to learn to drive it?"

"If we can get it running before you go back to school."

"Sweet! So you want me to start taking this thing apart?"

"Yes, please."

He started taking components out as I told him. We organized them by the parts that we could salvage and those that were completely shot.

We weren't very far in it when Adrian called us into the house for supper.

As he wiped his hands, Josh said, "Mom, I know you don't want me to do this guardian thing—"

I stopped him. "Josh, before you were born, your dad and I made a deal. We knew that we couldn't tell you kids what to do and what not to do. We'd had that from our own parents and it didn't work out. So we promised we'd guide you to make the right decisions for yourselves. And right isn't always what _we_ think it is. Marti has told us all a million times that she won't be a guardian. But you want this. You thrive on it. This is right for _you_. And I know I don't tell you enough, baby, but I'm proud of you." I took his face in my hands. "You're going to be a great man, a fantastic guardian, I can already tell."

"But I know it still breaks your heart." He pointed out.

I smiled. "Your father's observations skills. Yes, it breaks my heart. I'm scared to death what will happen to you. You could be killed."

"Marti could get lead poisoning or contract a disease. At least my death would be quick."

"You could be turned by force." I said in a thin whisper.

"They know how to reverse it now." He wrapped his arms around me. "Stop worrying, Mom. It's not good for the baby."

"I love you, son."

"I love you, too."

* * *

"Wake up, baby." Adrian whispered as he kissed me just under my ear. "Do you know what day it is?"

"Mm-hm." I croaked. "And I don't want to break tradition, but I don't know if I'm up for it."

"Let me try a few things before you say no completely."

I combed my fingers through his hair. "I think I can agree to that."

So he started a slow trail down my neck as he pulled at the hem of the shirt I wore, one of his old ones. He lowered himself to my stomach and kissed it softly.

"Growing more and more every day." He commented in awe.

I smiled and rubbed a hand over the bump. "Yeah. I'll be too huge for this before too long."

He smirked and hooked his fingers into the waistband of my pants and underwear at the same time. As he slowly lowered them he said, "Our last two times, we made love up until your final days." He kissed my hip. "And you're always beautiful and perfect to me, Sydney. Never forget that."

"You're just trying to get into my pants." I discarded the last of my clothes and Adrian did the same.

"I've already been there. Hundreds of times. Thousands, even." He settled over me. "Do think we can get it done this year."

"It's been close the last few times. Is the door locked?"

He looked over his shoulder. "Yes, thankfully."

"Good. All I can think of is the first time we decided it was okay to leave the gate off Josh's door when he was three."

He chuckled. "It's a good thing we've never been too adventurous."

"And that he was small enough not to wonder more than 'Why is Daddy naked on top of Mommy?'"

He chuckled as he slid into me. "Yes, it could be so much worse now."

"At least you finally learned how to be a little quieter." I wrapped an ankle around his.

"Me?" He retreated and then pushed back into me, we moaned in unison. "You used to be a screamer."

I somehow managed a laugh. "I made you scream a time or two."

He grunted. "But no more." He ended the conversation by covering my mouth with his.

I dug my fingers into his back as he increased his movements. The sensations running through my body were familiar and I welcomed the distraction from all the discomfort of pregnancy, even for a moment.

I met my release just as I heard a knock a few doors down. Adrian cursed and increased his speed even more, meeting his own climax in the moment before Marti and Josh pounded on our door.

Adrian rolled over and yelled, "You're not five anymore. That stopped being cute." He panted and rubbed his face.

"But I made Mom coffee." Marti contributed.

"Do you have a cup waiting?" I asked, managing somehow to sound normal.

Josh laughed. "Can't you smell it through the door?"

I rolled out of bed and rummaged around to find clothes, throwing Adrian's pants at his face.

"You look a little flushed." He commented as he dressed.

"I feel it." I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him. "Merry Christmas."

"Same to you, baby." He patted my stomach. "And you, little one. You'll get to really celebrate with us next year."

I stepped out into the hall and took the cup from Marti as I kissed the top of her head. "Thank you, baby." I took a sip. "Perfect."

"Is that good for the baby?" Josh asked as we made our way downstairs together.

"I drink two cups a day. I did with the both of you and I think you're both fine." I patted my stomach. "This one will be okay, too."

He wrapped an arm around my waist and gave me a little squeeze. "And got us all addicted to it." He smirked.

"It's not as bad as some things." I pointed out.

"Okay, who's passing out presents this year?" Adrian asked.

"Marti did it last year." Josh said. "I did it the year before."

"Then I think it's Mom's turn." My husband smiled.

"Oh, joy." I chuckled and looked over the pile. "Who gets the first present then?"

"Me!" Marti exclaimed.

"No, me!" Josh argued.

"How about the baby gets a present first and Daddy opens it?" I picked up a small box and gave it to my husband. We shared a lingering kiss.

Then I went about passing out the rest of the gifts. I exalted in the cheers and groans from my family as they opened things they wanted and things they didn't know they wanted. There were some clothes in the bunch, that's where the groans came in. I sat down to open my own presents last.

After all the gifts were open, we sat around with all our new toys and gadgets. Adrian and Marti made breakfast; it was their turn this year. Josh and I cleaned up the wrapping paper and boxes. We ate in front of the TV as we watched a Christmas movie.

I didn't realize I was crying until Adrian wiped a tear off my cheek with his thumb. He brushed a kiss across my lips.

"You okay?" He asked softly.

I nodded. "Stupid hormones." I pressed my face into his shoulder and wrapped my arms around him until it passed.

Josh and Marti started arguing over who got to pick the next movie and I sat back.

"Guys, stop fighting." I begged. "It's Christmas."

"Sorry, Mom." Marti sighed. "You pick, Josh."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

She smiled. "Yeah. You have good taste most of the time."

He chuckled. The movie he put in started and Marti started laughing.

"You picked the one I wanted anyway."

He shrugged and sent her a smile that reminded me of his father. "It's a good movie. I was just arguing to argue."

I got up off the couch and wrapped my arms around Josh. I gave him a noisy kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." I did the same to Marti. Both blushed fiercely. "I love you two so much. And I am so proud of both of you. More every day, with every action and every choice you make. You two are the best thing I think your father and I ever did." And then I started crying again. "And I wish I could just turn off these waterworks."

Adrian pulled me back onto his lap and kissed me. "I agree with your mom. You guys are going to do great things." He put his face close to my stomach and added, "Even you in there."

"Enough with all the mushy stuff." Marti said.

"Yeah, the movie's starting." Her brother responded.

We spent the rest of the day watching movies and just spending time all together while we could.


	12. Chapter 12

_Author's note: In light of the recent release of the first chapter of _The Fiery Heart_ with Adrian's POV, I really hope now more than ever that I am doing him justice. Anyway, I suggest if you haven't yet read that, you should go over to Richelle Mead's site and check it out. SO MANY FEELS!_

_Yeah, so you get to find out some neat baby stuff here. And Josh has become my favorite character to write. I hope you enjoy him as much as I do.  
_

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Twelve

I spent several days in my studio after Josh went back to Court. Sydney had a hard time with it and it only made the situation worse for me. I missed our son, too. He was far more extroverted than his sister. He was louder. And he always seemed to enjoy being with me in the studio. The house seemed empty without him.

Marti sometimes came to sit in the room with me and read. She hardly ever painted. She thought she was horrible. But the truth was, when she put her mind to it, she was almost as good as me. Art wasn't her thing, though. Unless she was reading, she liked to be fiddling with things. She liked figuring out how stuff worked. I was surprised she was still contemplating architecture. I wouldn't have been surprised if she followed her mother and grandmother into the body shop. Maybe getting that car fixed up would make her change her mind.

Sydney stepped into the room after she got Marti off to school. She wrapped her arms around me from behind and rested her head on my shoulder. "You need to get ready."

"For what?" I asked, bringing my brush to canvas.

"For the appointment. Don't tell me you forgot."

"Was that today?" I put my brush in the jar of water and sloshed it around. "Shit. I'm sorry, baby." I stepped away from her and started putting my paints away.

"We have plenty of time, honey. I just wanted to make sure you didn't lose track of it."

"I'll make it up to you. We'll go to that diner you like for lunch when we're done." I patted her stomach. "Is that okay with you?"

She put her hands on top of mine. "I think we can both agree to that."

"Good." I brushed a kiss across her lips. "I need to shower. Care to join me?"

She smiled kindly. "I already showered. And I don't want to waste time."

I sighed. "I guess I'll have to take care of things myself."

She laughed. "Two seconds ago you were painting. Are you that horny these days?"

I shrugged. "I'm taking it whenever I can. If the last two are any indication, it will be several months until you get back into the mood again and I'll have to deal with frustration."

"When you have a baby pass through you there, then you can tell me about frustration. There are a million other things I was focused on then. Not to mention that there's a healing process that has to take place in those regions. Thank you very much."

I put up my hands in surrender. "Hey, I didn't mean anything. I know. I was trying to make a joke."

"You're not due for your weekly blow job anyway." She winked and sauntered out of the room. Well, sauntered as much as a five months pregnant woman could.

"It's been way more than a week, baby." I called after her.

* * *

"Are you ready to find out the sex today?" The technician asked as Sydney reclined on the table and pulled up her shirt.

"Yes!" I said quickly.

My wife laughed. "Most definitely."

The woman turned on the machine, put the gel on the end of the wand, and placed it on Sydney's stomach. The baby appeared on the screen. It was sucking its thumb, a sight that always kind of freaked me out, but in a good way. She moved the wand a little and stopped.

"Not shy today are we, little one?" she pointed to the screen. "There are the legs and she's showing us everything she's got."

"Did you say 'she'?" I asked, a grin growing on my face.

She gave us a kind smile. "I did. You're having a girl."

Sydney squeezed my hand. "Another girl. Wow."

"Marti should be happy about that one." I kissed her temple.

"Hello, baby girl." Sydney said as the technician moved the wand around some more.

She made a few notes and then printed out some pictures from the screen. "Congratulations."

After she left and Sydney put herself back together, I asked, "So the name arguments begin?"

She shook her head. "You pick a name and I pick a name and we figure out how they can go together."

"Then I have a name already." I said.

"Of course you do." She smiled at me.

"It's a big explanation, but I like the name Jade." I said, feeling the nerves take hold. Why was I worried?

She watched me a moment before she asked, "It's for Jill, isn't it?"

I nodded. My wife knew me so well. I didn't have time to say anything else because the doctor came in.

Sydney was told everything was on schedule and she was fine. We made an appointment for two weeks later and then we headed toward the diner where I promised my wife we'd have lunch.

"So why Jade?" She asked as we sat down at our favorite booth.

"They named Ashley kind of in my honor. That's what Jill told me. You know, a kind of old-fashioned unisex name. We'd already had ours, so I didn't think we could ever return that honor. But now we can. So I thought, if we have a boy, we could name him Julian or Jules. But if we had a girl, Jade. That's the shade her eyes are. And jade is a precious stone. Jill is someone very precious, special. To both of us and..." I shrugged. "And I just really like it."

She smiled. "It's pretty. I like it. I'll have to choose now."

"Have anything in mind yet?" I asked casually.

"Not yet. I'll get the book out when we get home." She picked up her menu. "I don't know if I can top Jade."

"You don't have to top it. But you'll think of something perfect. Marti and Joshua were both names you wanted."

"You suggested Marti first. And Joshua was one of the ones you marked in the book."

"Daniella was your idea. And Tyler."

"After your suggestions."

"Not Daniella." I pointed out.

She shrugged. "I want something that means something. Like Jade and Marti Daniella and Joshua Tyler."

I reached over and squeezed her hand. "You'll think of something."

She squeezed back just as the waitress came over to take our order. Sydney looked at her name tag. "Caroline?"

"Yes?"

She grinned. "It's a pretty name."

"Thank you. And thanks for pronouncing it right. Most say 'Care-ah-lin' and it grates at my nerves."

"Like Sweet Caroline, though." She said in a contemplative tone.

The young woman smiled. "Exactly. That's where my parents got it." She made a face.

My wife smiled. "It's nice. The song and the name."

"It is." I agreed. I could see the wheels turning.

We made our order and I watched Sydney. She said nothing, just sipped her water and absently rubbed her stomach.

I asked, "So when do we tell the kids? Tonight?"

She laughed at my enthusiasm. "Yes. We can get Josh on the phone before he goes to class."

I leaned forward. "You think I'm ridiculous, don't you?"

"Well, one would think this is our first baby. We've done this twice before."

"We have. But like I told you, I always wanted a houseful." I took out a pen and started sketching her on a napkin. "I was very happy with the two you gave me before. And now this one. And they are so perfectly spaced. We got to experience all firsts with Josh and Marti both because Joshie was already so much older, almost in school by the time his sister crawled. And now, we have a little bit of help with a kid who will be old enough to babysit when we need an hour to ourselves." I smiled and looked into her eyes. "You've already given me so much more than I ever wanted. I'm glad you're getting better, baby. And I'm glad we're having a baby at all, let alone another girl. Everything about you still excites me and inspires me." I went back to the sketch.

I could feel her eyes on me. I looked up and smiled. She returned it. "God, you're infuriating."

I laughed. "How?"

"That smile still undoes me." She leaned across the table and rubbed my arm. "No wonder we're having another."

I laughed again and then gave her a smoldering look. "I know. You can't keep your hands off of me."

It was her turn to laugh. "I think it's a mutual attraction."

"You're right. You're hot, Sydney. Twenty-five years since I saw you the first time and you still take my breath away." I slid the napkin across the table just as our food arrived.

A tear trickled out of her eye and she quickly swiped it away. "These damn hormones." She mumbled.

I picked up her hand and kissed it. "I love you, my beautiful wife."

"And I love you, my amazing-in-every-way husband."

* * *

"Caroline Jade or Jade Caroline?" Sydney asked as we lay together on the couch.

I combed my fingers through her hair. "Caroline Jade flows a little better, I think."

"It's pretty either way, but I agree." She snuggled into me. "You like Caroline, though?"

I kissed her. "I do like it. It's pretty and it's the name of a lot of great women in history."

She smiled and looked up at me. "Name one famous Caroline?"

I thought a moment and then answered with a sheepish grin. "I can't right now. But I know it has to be the name of some great ladies. Not as great as you, but pretty awesome."

She chuckled and pulled me to her for a kiss.

The front door opened and Marti called, "I'm home."

I raised my hand from the couch and waved.

She walked over and sat on the arm of the couch. "So how did the appointment go?"

"She remembered and she didn't even have a commitment to be there." My wife pointed out.

I scoffed. "Don't get mad at me. She's better with dates. Ask her when the battle of Gettysburg was and she'll know it."

"July first to the third, 1863." She said without further prompting.

"See. First World War?"

"July twenty-eighth, 1914. We entered officially on April sixth, 1917."

I smiled proudly. "Want another one?"

"Give me a good one, Dad." She said with a grin.

I thought a moment and then said, "Abraham Lincoln's birthday."

"That one's easy. February twelfth, 1809. You should have asked me Garfield's."

"That stupid cartoon cat? No way." I laughed.

"Daddy, there was a president named Garfield." She said in an exasperated tone.

"I know, baby. I was totally testing you." Sort of.

"Yeah, right. Anyway, Garfield the comic strip was created in 1978. The president, James A. Garfield, was born November nineteenth, 1831."

I shook my head. "How can you memorize all this stuff?"

She shrugged. "So what did you find out at the doctor, Mom?"

Sydney smiled. "We got some great news that we want to share with you and your brother. We'll call him in a few hours. But you need to go get your things for your soccer practice."

"Yes, ma'am." She got up and hurried up the stairs.

"How do you and little CJ feel?" I asked, rubbing her stomach.

She laughed. "CJ? I like it. _CJ_ and I are fine." She kissed me. "If you bring big sister to practice, I'll make supper."

"And what are we having?"

"I think we have the ingredients for that baked potato soup you like." She sat up and stretched. "And I'll send a text to Josh to have him call before school."

"Okay." I brushed a kiss across her lips. "See you in about an hour."

* * *

I paced anxiously as I waited for Josh to call and for Marti and Adrian to get home. I spoke softly to Caroline, glad we had a name so quickly. We didn't finalize names for our older two until they were born.

My phone went off just as I heard the car pull into the driveway. I answered. "You have perfect timing, Joshie."

"Helps to be living with the person who can see through Dad's eyes." Josh teased on the other end. "So how are you feeling?"

I smiled. "I'm fine. The baby and I are fine. How are you?"

He heaved a sigh. "Tired. It's been a rough couple weeks back."

"Yeah? And how are things with Ivanna?"

I could almost hear Josh blush through the phone. "Fine. We're friends again. She and I snuck out of our beds in the middle of the day to watch movies a couple nights ago. Aunt Jill about shit a brick when she saw us."

"Joshua, language!" I scolded.

Adrian and Marti walked in and started shedding coats and shoes.

"Well, she was pissed. I don't think it helped much that Iva fell asleep on my shoulder. But I swear it was totally platonic, Mom."

"It better be. Your Dad and Marti are both here. I'm going to put you on speaker." I sat the phone in the middle of the table and we all gathered around it. "Okay, family meeting time."

"So what's the news from the doctor or the unborn?" Josh asked.

"What do you guys think of the name Caroline?" I asked.

There was silence.

Marti put her hands over her mouth and giggled. "A sister? Really?"

Adrian nodded. "Yeah. It's a girl. Caroline Jade. Isn't it pretty?"

"You have her name already?" Josh asked. "Impressive."

"Yeah, well, you and Marti gave us a lot of trouble. This name kind of came to us." My husband gave me a pointed look.

"Your dad's already calling her CJ." I pointed out. "So what do you guys think? Really?"

"I think it's gross that you and dad still do the thing required to make a baby." Josh said. "But I still think it's cool. Another sister. She'll kick some major ass."

"Language!" Adrian and I said at the same time.

"Well, it's true." Marti contributed. "But it's awesome. I always wanted a baby sister." She got a dreamy look in her eye that made me think of her father. "Caroline."

Jill's voice broke in from the background, "Josh, you're going to be late, honey."

Josh sighed. "Okay. I got to go. And I have to leave my phone here because I got caught texting in class a few too many times."

"Texting your girlfriend?" His sister teased.

"None of your business, Marti-farty!" He snapped.

"Have a good day at school." I said, breaking up the fight before it started. "I love you, Josh."

"Love you guys." He said.

After we hung up, Marti wandered to the stove and stirred the soup simmering there. Adrian wrapped an arm around me and kissed my cheek.

I leaned into him. "How was practice?"

"It was practice." Marti said dejectedly. "I wish soccer was a school thing. None of my friends are in it anymore."

"You'll be fine, baby." Adrian assured her. "I already told you that. You're a great player."

"Don't you think it's kind of cheating?" She asked, plopping down in the chair she'd just vacated.

"Because I'm stronger and faster than most of them. I've got better reflexes." She shrugged. "I'm just plain better."

"Nice to know that the modesty gene passed you by too." I commented with a fond smile. "I don't think it's cheating because all the other girls on the team are just as good. You wouldn't all be there if that wasn't the case."

She smiled. "I'm still better."

I chuckled and kissed her temple, taking a moment to lean my head against hers. "I know you are. But let's just keep that between us, okay?"

"Okay." She wiggled out of my grasp. "Can we eat now? I'm starved."

I laughed. "Don't you need to shower first?"

"No, food is more important than my cleanliness right now." She got up and started setting the table, a sure sign she was telling the truth.


	13. Chapter 13

_Author's note: Sorry this has taken so long. I've been working on a new blog called _**storiesofthespawnofsydrian**_ over on Tumblr. It's drabbles of Marti and Josh (and a little Caroline soon) in the future as adults. And if you haven't read _**Heart-to-Heart**_, I suggest you do that before you check out the Tumblr blog. You can find it on my profile here._

_Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows. Please keep them coming!_

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Thirteen

Caroline woke me up. She was moving around a lot more and she was starting to get my schedule and thought she knew when I needed to be awake. I rolled over and caught Adrian watching me. He smiled and leaned close to my stomach.

"CJ. Caroline Jade. Caroline Sage Ivashkov. Our new baby girl." Adrian whispered to my stomach. "Do you know I love you?"

I chuckled. "Enough of that. I have to get up and go to work."

"No. Stay home with us today. It's Spring Break. Play hooky." He kissed my stomach and then moved up to kiss me lazily.

I combed my fingers through his hair. "I wish I could, but I've only got a few more weeks until I'm on a forced vacation."

He kissed me again. "Want me to make breakfast?"

"No, I'll make something."

"Okay."

One more kiss and I pushed him away. Caroline moved around a lot when she realized her father was no longer talking to her. I placed my hand on my stomach. "Calm down, Caroline. Daddy can't talk to you forever."

"Listen to your mother." Adrian said from across the room. He smiled reassuringly. "How do you feel?"

I contemplated telling him a half truth. But even if I played it off, I knew he'd be able to read it all over my face. I settled for the full truth. "I hurt all over."

"Then stay home." He walked over to me and placed his hands on the side of my face. "You're seven months pregnant. I don't think you have any business being in that shop in your condition. You and me and Marti can lay around in our pajamas and watch movies and eat junk food. We'll order pizza for lunch and eat on it all afternoon."

I laughed. "That sounds like a great day."

Caroline shifted in my womb.

"I think she likes it too. She's starting to get restless in the shop. I think all the noise makes her uncomfortable." I rubbed my stomach and she started to calm a little. "Okay. Give me my phone. I'll call my mom. But you better make good on that pizza promise."

He laughed and kissed me hard on the mouth. "Don't worry, baby. I'll do anything you want."

I curled up on the couch a short time later. Marti came downstairs and curled into my side. She put her hand on my stomach and mumbled good morning to her sister.

"Nothing for your mother?" I asked, kissing her temple.

"Hi, Mom." She giggled when the baby kicked her hand. "It's so cool."

"It is." I agreed, combing my fingers through her hair.

She was silent for a while, her hand still moving with Caroline. She asked, "Do babies usually move around this much?"

I smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Yes. She really likes when people talk to her, especially your dad. That's the only time she really calms down."

"So Dad's kind of important, huh?"

I laughed. "Of course he is. Don't you think so?"

She giggled. "Yeah."

"What do you think? Just two more months and you're a big sister."

She thought about it and then leaned down. "These two months better hurry, CJ."

I laughed and combed my fingers through her hair some more. "You have no idea, baby."

Adrian came into the room carrying two mugs. He handed a cup of hot chocolate to our daughter and then gave me a cup of coffee and a kiss. "I'll make each of you a bowl of oatmeal." He kissed me again and then left the room.

Marti and I cuddled together for a while longer, watching the morning news. I felt a pain in my abdomen like a contraction. I rubbed at the bump as it passed. The last two months were the most excruciating and nerve-wracking. I knew these were normal, so I ignored it.

We ate breakfast gathered together on the couch, watching cartoons. I felt another contraction, this one a little more painful and gritted my teeth through it. Adrian noticed and gave me a questioning look. I shook my head and rubbed his back, reassuring him.

When he got up to order pizza, it happened again and this time I didn't think it was smart to ignore it. It was a little more intense. I found him as he was dialing the number and very calmly explained the pain I'd been having.

His eyes grew wide. "Baby…"

"It's fine. We'll just go to the hospital. I'm sure it's nothing. I'll call my doctor. You call my mom and have her meet us there to sit with Marti." I sat down by the door and started putting on my shoes.

Our daughter caught onto the bustle. "Mom? Dad?"

"Get your shoes on, baby." Adrian told her.

"Is something wrong?" She asked as she did what her father told her.

"We don't know yet." I said. I took out my phone as we hurried out to the car, Adrian and Marti holding on to me as we went.

* * *

I paced the lobby. Marti and Deborah both told me I needed to calm down, but I couldn't help it. I needed Sydney and Caroline to be okay. I just needed to know _something_.

"She seemed fine. The baby was moving and stuff." Marti told her grandmother.

"Well, she'll be okay." Deborah assured her. "I know she will."

"They both will be." I said, running my fingers through my hair anxiously. I could really use a cigarette and I hadn't smoked in years.

Dr. Halvorson walked in and I hurried over to him, my daughter and mother-in-law on my heels.

He smiled. "They're fine. She experienced Braxton Hicks contractions is all. It happens pretty intensely in the last few months sometimes and can be a little frightening, but it's nothing to be too worried about."

I nodded. "Can we go in?"

"Yes. I'm going to send her home, but I need her to rest for a few days until her regular appointment with me next week. No work of any kind."

"Well, I should hope not." Deborah said.

"I'll make sure she rests." I assured all three. I draped an arm over Marti's shoulders. "She can help." I kissed my daughter's temple.

"Of course I will. Can we go see Mom now?"

Dr. Halvorson sent his smile her way. "I'll show you to her."

I was more anxious with each step. Even though I knew Sydney and Caroline were okay, I needed to see for myself. I stepped through the curtain the doctor indicated and locked eyes with my wife. I walked over to her, leaving Marti and Deborah behind.

I splayed a hand over her stomach as I pressed a kiss to her mouth. "I'm so relieved." I whispered against her lips.

"Me too, sweetheart." She responded, kissing me again.

I leaned over and kissed the bump. "You okay in there, CJ?" She kicked my hand. "I guess that's a yes."

"I don't expect to see you in the shop until that baby is born." Her mother said, stepping to the other side of the bed and smoothing hair out of Sydney's face.

"But, Mom—"

She smiled. "I can handle everything, Sydney. You don't need to worry. It's been nice having an extra eye on the books every day, but I did it myself for years. And maybe one of these days we can discuss you taking over again. But this time…for good."

My wife nodded and gave her mother's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Deborah asked, "Hey, Marti, want to go out for some ice cream?"

Our daughter looked between us, chewing her lip nervously. "Are you really okay, Mom?"

Sydney smiled. "I am, baby."

"May I go with Grandma, then?"

I shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Yeah, we've probably got a pretty long wait." My wife agreed. "Thanks, Mom."

"Any time." She kissed Sydney's forehead and then stepped back for Marti to bid her farewell. "I'll have her home _with_ supper later on. Both of you rest and we'll handle it."

"Thanks, Deb." I said, kissing her cheek. "You two have fun."

"Don't cause too much trouble, Caroline." Marti said to her mother's stomach.

Sydney laughed. "She's kicking me now. Thanks."

"You're welcome." She chuckled and kissed her mother once more before walking out with her grandmother.

Sydney put her hand on her stomach and started giggling. "She's got the hiccups. I was wondering when that would happen."

I watched her stomach a moment before I noticed the rhythmic jumping. Josh got them a lot, Marti not so much. I placed my hands on top of hers and felt our baby bouncing until they stopped. I leaned down and kissed the bump.

"Feeling better, CJ?" I asked, rubbing gentle circles into her flesh.

"I think so." Sydney said. "She's settling down. She usually sleeps about this time."

"Then let her sleep." I kissed my wife. "How are you feeling?"

She thought about it a moment. She caught my hands and tangled her fingers in mine. "I was so scared she was coming already. But I know if it happens now, she has a good chance. Her lungs have developed enough at this point that her life outside of me is viable."

I kissed her hands. "You scared me to death."

"I know. I'm sorry. It scared me, too. I hope she's not our trouble-maker."

"Are you forgetting we have a teenage son?" I asked with a wink.

She chuckled. "Sometimes I like to pretend everything's fine with him."

A nurse came in with paperwork. We left a short time later. Sydney called her mom to let her know. And then she leaned into my side and dozed.

I rested a hand on her stomach. "Caroline Jade." I said softly, not taking my eyes off the road. "You little rascal. You gave Mommy and Daddy a scare. You still have two whole months in there. Chill." I lifted a hand and twirled a piece of Sydney's blonde hair around my finger.

She'd told me frantically a few days ago that she'd found a few grays. I couldn't tell. Her hair was a good shade to slowly turn, I thought. Her mother's hair was a little darker and I could see the gray streaks she'd let grow into it. But she was still a lovely woman and the gray worked. I know it would for Sydney as well.

I wasn't so sure about me, but thankfully, I most likely wouldn't have to deal with them too soon. My father's hair was still dark. So was my mother's. And being Moroi, I'd definitely age differently.

I kissed Sydney awake after I parked in our driveway. She sat up and stretched and then rubbed her stomach. "More hiccups? Goodness, baby girl. You must be growing."

"She must be." I kissed her temple. "Let's get you inside."

I settled Sydney on the couch, pulling the blanket up to her chest. I kissed her hard on the mouth. "Don't get up unless it's necessary."

"Yes, Dr. Adrian." She said with a smirk.

I growled. "I'm going to hold onto that image, baby, because once you are up for it again, we are playing doctor. And you'll be my naughty nurse."

"You're the naughty one." She countered with a smoldering gaze.

"I am. And I deserve to be punished." I kissed her again and sat back. "What do you need?"

She touched my face, stroking it with her fingertips. "I want to talk to Josh. I need to hear his voice."

A moment later, my phone rang. I saw our son's number on the display and handed it to her. "Speak of the devil."

"Hey, Joshie." She said into the receiver. "Yeah, we had a bit of a scare. We thought CJ was trying to come early. Thankfully not. Tell me about your day. Well, your yesterday."

I watched her a moment as she listened to our son. Tears of relief spilled out of her eyes. I handed her a tissue and then sat at the end of the couch and rubbed her feet and legs until the conversation was done.


	14. Chapter 14

_Happy reading!_

Chapter Fourteen

I was bored out of my mind. At least when I was at the shop I had something more productive to do. I was relegated to sit on the couch or lie in bed and do nothing. Marti and Adrian cooked and cleaned. And I sat.

After two weeks of this, I had enough. While Adrian disappeared into the nursery, I walked out into the garage and started picking through the car parts Josh had removed. I piled a few on the table and started fiddling with them.

That's where Adrian found me several hours later. He cleared his throat. I looked up to see him leaning against the door frame. I smiled guiltily and looked away.

"No work means none at all. Even side projects." He said gently.

I put down my screwdriver and stretched. "I'm sorry." I rubbed my stomach. "I was just so bored."

"You were put on bed rest for a reason." He walked over and placed a hand on my cheek. "I want you and CJ to be healthy."

"I'm fine. _We're_ fine." I stood and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Come back inside. I'll make you some tea. I'll go to the store and get you that book you wanted. I'll do anything to keep you from being bored. Just do what the doctor said. For me."

I saw the worry etched all over his face and heard the fear in his voice. I cupped his cheeks. "Okay." I kissed him once more and then returned to the house.

I spent the next two months going from my bed to the couch and back. The last month was spent mostly in bed. Adrian moved his art to the bedroom. He sketched me and painted me and just sat with me. And he spent time locked in the nursery. He wouldn't tell me what he was doing in there and when I ventured out into the hall to take a peek, the door was always closed.

Adrian also spent a lot of time talking to Caroline. When I was alone, I did, too. It was a comfort to me as much as her.

"I love you, baby." I whispered. "You can come meet us any time. We're ready for you. Daddy won't let me see, but he's fixing up your room." She kicked hard and I rubbed the spot. "Goodness, baby."

Adrian walked in then. "Wanna see?"

"See what?"

"What I've been working on. I made it just as special the third time around, I think." He helped me out of bed and then led me to the room next door.

He'd hung a little plaque on the door he'd painted with "Caroline." There was mountain laurel, Utah's state flower, on all the corners. I shook head at the crazy symbolism of Court's location. He pushed the door open and I froze. He'd painted the walls white. The same flowers that were in the corners of the name plaque were in a boarder along the top of the room in white and pink. The crib—the same one Josh and Marti had both slept in—sat against the same wall it had the last two times. "Caroline Jade" was painted just above the crib.

He'd hung several paintings around the room. Some featured Hopper. Others were our family through the years. Still others featured images from Court. There was one photograph in the mix: Adrian and me on our wedding day. In it, he looked at me like I was the most important thing in the world. I laughed at something, maybe something he'd said, I didn't remember. My hand over my mouth, my eyes dancing.

I ran my fingertips over the picture. He'd placed it beside the crib in a way that Caroline could easily see it. "This was always one of my favorites."

"Mine too." He wrapped an arm around my waist. "So what do you think?"

I looked around once more and sent him a smirk. "I'm glad you didn't attempt the mural this time."

He put on a face of mock hurt. "Hey, Josh's alpacas were pretty great."

I laughed. "Sure. Especially the ones who were smoking and drinking. And the ones in the far back who were making more alpacas."

"He was a baby. He didn't know." He argued.

I laughed. "Marti's was a little better."

He nodded. "All the adorable mythical sea creatures."

"Except that you put a lot of topless mermaids in there for your own entertainment."

He shrugged. "They weren't entirely anatomically correct. Kind of like Barbie dolls. No nipples."

I laughed again and shook my head. "I like that you included your art in a more easily changeable manner. It can grow with her. This is a different level of sophistication than the others."

"I figured we were both getting a little too old to deal with repainting a room every three years." He said with a smirk.

"I'm not old." I said defensively.

"Of course not, baby." He kissed me softly and then led me back to the bedroom. "I need to get you off your feet."

"Walking can help induce labor."

"Sex can too."

"No." Said adamantly. "There are a number of other things I'll try before that."

"Oh, why not?" He wrapped his arms around me and brushed his lips over mine. "You're so beautiful."

I shook my head and stepped away. "I'm a whale. And I'm not in the mood."

"Mom? Dad? I'm home." Marti called just before she slammed the front door shut.

"And then there's that." I slowly made my way down the stairs, Adrian at my side helping me. "Hey, baby. How was school?"

"I think I'm too smart." She said with confidence. "Can I skip a grade?"

I laughed. "I think if your teachers thought that, they would get us to test you."

"But I get it before everyone else. The teacher stays on the same subject forever because they can't grasp it. Especially math. I'm just glad the year's almost over."

I wrapped my arms around her. "You'll be fine, baby."

"Can I be homeschooled?" She asked as we wandered into the kitchen and started going through the cabinets.

"I'm not smart enough for that. Get those cookies, Marti." Adrian admitted as he poured us all some milk.

Marti took the package of cookies out of the cabinet and sat them in the middle of the table. "But Mom is."

"Mom also has a full time job outside the home." I said.

"So I can help out in the shop when I get stuff done."

"You're going to school, Marti." Adrian said. "At least for another eight years. What you do after that is up to you."

"Daddy, I'm smarter than most of my classmates."

"I've seen your grades and test scores." Her father said. "I know how smart you are. But we can't do much right now. Maybe you can start taking more advanced math next year if it keeps going like this."

"But it's not just math."

I put my hand on her arm. "Baby, we'll figure it all out. I promise."

She nodded and dunked a cookie into her milk glumly.

* * *

I was in the nursery touching up the boarder when Sydney called my name anxiously. I hurried into our bedroom. She leaned against the foot of the bed.

"Time to call the doctor and get to the hospital." She told me, a nervous smile playing on her lips.

"But you gave me no warning." I argued, picking up her overnight bag from beside the door and guiding her out of the room.

"And I need you to call the school so Marti can ride to the shop and then call Mom and let her know to expect Marti."

"Sydney?" I sat her down on the bench by the door and helped her put on her shoes.

"You freak out. I learned my lesson after the last two times to wait until we actually had to leave." She held up her arms to me to help her up. "So now we go and hopefully it won't be a long night."

I took out my phone and called Dr. Halvorson's office first as Sydney suffered through a contraction. After making all the appropriate calls, we were already halfway to the hospital.

"Can we get there any faster?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"Pushing it a little close, huh? Maybe you should have told me sooner." I slipped my hand into hers and squeezed gently.

"Maybe." She rested her head against the headrest. "You can't wait to hold her, can you?"

I smiled and kissed her hand. "I know you can't either."

She shook her head and then sat up. "Josh. You need to call Josh."

"Shit, you're right." I pulled out my phone and dialed our son's number.

"Dad? Is something wrong?" He asked groggily.

"Nothing wrong. But I'm driving Mom to the hospital to have the baby."

"Sweet." He sounded a little more awake.

"Have Jill or Eddie write you a note so you can have your phone in class. On silent, of course. I know you'll want to hear as soon as it happens and it could be in the middle of something."

"Thanks, Dad. Tell Mom to hang in there. And tell CJ to hurry."

I chuckled. "I will. We love you, son."

"Love you, too, Dad."

"Do you think it will be long?" I asked, taking her hand in mine again.

"Probably not."

I laughed and turned into the hospital. I stopped near the emergency entrance and helped Sydney inside. "My wife is in labor." I told the nurse behind the desk. "Dr. Halvorson is supposed to meet us here."

"Ivashkov?"

"Yes."

She nodded. "He called. He should be here in five minutes."

"Thanks."

"Have a seat and we'll get you set up in a room."

I thanked her again and helped Sydney into a chair.

"Go move the car. I'm fine." She said, rubbing her stomach.

"You sure?"

"Go before they tow it." She snapped through her teeth.

"Yes, ma'am." I nearly ran out of the building.

* * *

"God, you're beautiful." I whispered down at the baby in my arms. "You are two hours old now. Do you know that? Two whole hours, Caroline."

Sydney laughed from the bed. "Have you been holding her almost the entire time?"

"I have. I don't want to ever put her down."

"Did you call Josh?"

I nodded, not looking up. "I did."

"And what did he say?" She yawned.

"He's very excited. He loved the picture of the two of you."

"Marti and Mom?"

"Waiting outside. They took a peek at her while you were sleeping. I tried to send them home, but Marti wanted to stay and see you awake." I kissed Caroline's tiny face and reluctantly handed her mother. "I'll get them."

"Hold on." She reached out and took my hand. "They can wait a little longer."

I sat down on the side of the bed.

"I'm sorry I wasn't all that great most of the time." She admitted, tangling her fingers with mine.

I kissed her hand. "It's been hard. I can't even imagine all the things you went through." I ran a finger down our baby's tiny face. "We had so many ideas. There were so many things we wanted to do, just us, once Marti was old enough."

"It wasn't just that. I have laugh lines and gray hair. I'll be almost sixty by the time CJ graduates high school. People are going to think I'm her grandmother." She swallowed back tears, but I could see her eyes glistening.

"They'll know you're not." I assured her.

"I don't…" She let go of my hand and covered her eyes. She whispered so softly I barely caught it when she said, "I don't love her yet. I thought I did, but I don't feel it looking at her now."

I didn't know how to respond to that. I just stared. How could she not love someone so perfect? I pulled her hand away from her face. "What do you mean?"

"I don't feel anything, Adrian. I don't know what's happening." She sobbed.

"You have to feel _something_ or you wouldn't be this upset." I smoothed a hand over her hair.

"Guilt and frustration. I should love my baby, but I don't." She put her hand over her eyes again and cried great, heaving sobs.

I pulled her into my arms and kissed her temple. "A lot has happened this year. We didn't expect or plan this. After you had so much trouble earlier, I'm surprised you're even feeling this. But you'll be fine."

"I need to talk to someone." She whispered, clutching at me with her free hand.

"We'll get you someone." I kissed her again and sat back. I looked down at the baby in her arms. "Caroline is a great blessing. You don't feel like you love her, but I know you do. It's maybe just hard to feel it with everything else going on."

"I don't know, Adrian." She sounded defeated.

I sighed and smoothed a hand over her hair. "I don't either. We'll get someone for you to talk to. Maybe your mom or Jill will understand. Maybe they've been through this too."

She nodded and wiped at her cheeks.

"I'll get your mom and Marti." I brushed a kiss across her lips.

"This one's going to look like me." She said to my back.

I turned at the door. "Then maybe that's the problem." I winked.

She gave me a sad smile.

Marti jumped up when I walked in. "Is Mom awake?"

"She is. And she wants to see you." Together the three of us walked back into the room.

Sydney was feeding Caroline. She looked up and smiled, pulling the blanket up to cover the baby. "Hi."

Marti sat on the edge of the bed. "How do you feel?"

"I've still got a few pain killers running through my system, so I'm not doing too badly." She chuckled and smoothed a hand over our daughter's dark hair. "You look tired. You should go with Grandma and get some sleep."

"Will you be okay?" She asked anxiously.

Sydney laughed. "I'm fine. I survived it before, I'll survive it again." She pulled Marti closer and kissed her forehead. "Go get some sleep, baby."

"You too, Mom." She stood and headed for the door.

Sydney locked eyes with her mother. "Mom, I want to talk to you alone."

"Come with me, kid." I draped my arm over Marti's shoulders and walked out of the room with her. "So what do you think?"

Marti thought a moment and then said, "I think it's really cool. I've kind of always wanted a baby sister. Josh and I will keep an eye on her. And if you and Mom need an evening alone, you can totally leave her with me."

"Maybe when you and CJ are both a little older."

"I'm responsible." She said defensively.

"You're also ten." I pointed out kindly.

"I'll be eleven soon."

I chuckled and pulled my daughter into a hug. "I love you, Marti. You make me proud."

She wrapped her arms around me and pressed her eyes into my shoulder. "You're not trying to replace me?"

I pulled back and looked down at her. "Never." I took her face between my hands. "You're special to me, Marti. Don't ever think for a minute that I don't love you anymore because Caroline is here. I love you, baby, and I always will." I pressed a kiss to her forehead and then pulled her back to me.

I held her until Deborah stepped back out of the room, wiping at her eyes. "Let's get you home, Marti. You have school tomorrow."

"Do I really have to go to school? Can't I play hooky just this once?"

"Let me think about it tonight. Go get some sleep." I kissed her forehead once more and then let her go. "I love you, kiddo."

"I love you too, Daddy."

I watched them and then returned to my wife's side. A nurse followed a moment later. She looked over the baby, taking her vitals and then taking Sydney's. I carried Caroline around the room. She was so small. She was so perfect. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. She did look more like Sydney, though she was completely bald. Her eyes were still dark. I hoped that when they lightened up, they would be brown. Josh's were green, he was a scary double of me. Marti had an even mixture of the two of us, though as she got older, I saw more of Sydney in her features. And her eyes were hazel. Sometimes they looked green, but thankfully they were mostlt brown.

"Adrian." Sydney said softly.

I forced my eyes up, breaking out of my reverie. "Sydney."

She smiled. "What are you thinking?"

"Everything." I looked down again as I sat on the bed beside her. "They grow up way too fast."

She nodded. "Mom said it sometimes happens."

I didn't know for a moment what she was talking about. And then it hit me. I nodded. "Did she say it gets better?"

"Yeah. She told me a few things…" She reached out and touched Caroline's head. "The drugs will leave my body and the hormones will kick in and the love will come later."

"There's the brainy girl I fell in love with. Thinking rationally. Being beautiful." I kissed her hard. "Marti asked me if we were replacing her."

"Oh, my baby. Never." She said obstinately.

"That's what I told her." I combed my fingers through her hair. "I love you. I love our babies. I wouldn't be half the man I am today without you. I wouldn't even be here, I don't think."

"Well, you are. We have a son who is becoming someone important for your people; a daughter who is all over the place, but will be something just as great; and now a baby who has an entire life ahead of her. And we have each other. I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty good."

I kissed her again. "Get some sleep, baby. You're going to need it."

"Put her down and come crowd in with me." She requested.

I sighed. "I guess I can let her sleep in a bed." I placed Caroline in the bassinet and watched her for a long time before I pulled myself away and joined my wife in the tiny hospital bed. I pulled Sydney against my chest and combed my fingers through her hair until we both fell asleep.

* * *

_Author's note: I hope you've enjoyed this story. I have really liked writing it. I promise there will be more of these characters posted in Lose Control: A One Shot Series as well as more about the children on the Tumblr _**storiesofthespawnofsydrian**_. And there are also many other Sydrian (and Jeddie) stories that I have written to choose from._

_Thank you all so much for reading. Thank you for following and favoriting. And thank you so much for the reviews._


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